Anthracite, also known as hard coal and black coal, is a hard, compact variety of coal that has a submetallic lustre. It has the highest carbon content, the fewest impurities, and the highest energy density of all types of coal and is the highest ranking of coals.
Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United Kingdom and South Africa, a coal mine and its structures are a colliery, a coal mine is called a "pit", and above-ground mining structures are referred to as a "pit head". In Australia, "colliery" generally refers to an underground coal mine.
A mining accident is an accident that occurs during the process of mining minerals or metals. Thousands of miners die from mining accidents each year, especially from underground coal mining, although accidents also occur in hard rock mining. Coal mining is considered much more hazardous than hard rock mining due to flat-lying rock strata, generally incompetent rock, the presence of methane gas, and coal dust. Most of the deaths these days occur in developing countries, and rural parts of developed countries where safety measures are not practiced as fully. A mining disaster is an incident where there are five or more fatalities.
Mining in Australia has long been a significant primary sector industry and contributor to the Australian economy by providing export income, royalty payments and employment. Historically, mining booms have also encouraged population growth via immigration to Australia, particularly the gold rushes of the 1850s. Many different ores, gems and minerals have been mined in the past and a wide variety are still mined throughout the country.
Fushun Mining Group is a large state-owned coal and oil shale company located in Fushun, Liaoning Province, China. The corporation consists of about 30 companies with about 28,000 employees. The main business includes coal mining and oil shale processing. According to figures released by FMG, this company is one of the world's largest shale oil producers.
The Ulyanovskaya Mine disaster was caused by a methane explosion that occurred on March 19, 2007 in the Ulyanovskaya longwall coal mine in the Kemerovo Oblast. At least 108 people were reported to have been killed by the blast, which occurred at a depth of about 270 meters (885 feet) at 10:19 local time. The mine disaster was Russia's deadliest in more than a decade.
The Yubileinaya mine is a coal mine in the Kemerovo Oblast area of Siberia, Russia. The mine is operated by Yuzhkuzbassugol, part owned by the Evraz Group who plan to take full ownership.
The 2007 Zasyadko mine disaster was a mining accident that happened on November 18, 2007 at the Zasyadko coal mine in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk.
Coal in India has been mined since 1774, and India is the second largest producer and consumer of coal after China, mining 777.31 million metric tons in FY 2022. Around 30% of coal is imported. Due to demand, supply mismatch and poor quality with high ash content, India imports coking coal to meet the shortage of domestic supply. Dhanbad, the largest coal producing city, has been called the coal capital of India. State-owned Coal India had a monopoly on coal mining between its nationalisation in 1973 and 2018.
Mining in New Zealand began when the Māori quarried rock such as argillite in times prior to European colonisation. Mining by Europeans began in the latter half of the 19th century.
Walter Energy, Inc. was a publicly traded "pure play" metallurgical coal producer for the global steel industry. The company also produced natural gas, steam coal and industrial coal, anthracite, metallurgical coke, and coal bed methane gas. Corporate and U.S. headquarters were located in Birmingham, Alabama, and its Canadian & UK headquarters in Vancouver, British Columbia. Walter Energy filed for bankruptcy in 2015 and its assets were purchased by Warrior Met Coal.
Coal mining has historically been an important industry in Ukraine. Coal mining in Ukraine is often associated with coal-rich Donets basin. However this is not the only coal mining region, other being Lviv-Volhynian basin and Dnieper brown coal mining basin. The Donets basin located in the eastern Ukraine is the most developed and much bigger coal mining region in the country.
OJSC Raspadskaya is a Russia-based coal-mining company owned by Evraz (82%) and headquartered in Mezhdurechensk, Kemerovo Oblast. The company produces 7 million tons of coal per year.
The Raspadskaya mine explosion was a mine explosion in the Raspadskaya mine, located near Mezhdurechensk in Kemerovo Oblast, Russia, which occurred on 8 May 2010. It was believed to have been caused by a buildup of methane. The initial explosion was followed by a second approximately four hours later which collapsed the mine's ventilation shaft and trapped several rescue workers. By 18 May 2010, 66 people were confirmed to have died with at least 99 others injured and as many as a further 24 unaccounted for.
The Bazhanov coal mine is a large coal mine located in southeastern Ukraine in Donetsk Oblast, in the industrial city of Makiivka. Bazhanov mine represents one of the largest coal reserve in Ukraine having estimated reserves of 58.7 million tonnes of coal. The annual coal production is around 1.02 million tonnes.
The Bilozerska coal mine is a large coal mine located in the south-east of Ukraine in Donetsk Oblast. The mine was put into operation in 1954 with annual production capacity of 1 million tons. Bilozerska represents one of the largest coal reserve in Ukraine having estimated reserves of 80.4 million tonnes of coal. In 2003 the mine produced 898.9 thousand tons of coal. The extent of underground workings is 82.6/80 km (1996/1999). As per 1999 data, number of employees was 2632 persons, including 1615 underground workers. The annual coal production is around 975,000 tonnes.
The Sukhodilska–Skhidna coal mine is a large underground coal mine located in Southeast Ukraine in Luhansk Oblast. Sukhodilska–Skhidna coal mine represents one of the largest coal reserves in Ukraine, having estimated reserves of 157.4 million tonnes. The annual coal production is around 712,000 tonnes.
Alpha Metallurgical Resources is a large American producer of metallurgical coal for the industrial production of steel and iron and low-sulfur thermal coal to fuel steam boilers for the production of electrical power. In November, 2018 the company was acquired by Contura Energy. The company also provides industry services relating to equipment repairs, road construction and logistics, with domestic operations and coal reserves within the states of Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Wyoming, Utah, Illinois, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania. Alpha Natural Resources does not produce all of the coal it sells; much of the coal sold by Alpha Natural Resources is purchased from independent mining operations and then resold in the worldwide market.
In February 2016, a series of explosions caused the deaths of 36 people, including 31 miners and five rescue workers, at the Severnaya coal mine 10 kilometres north of the city of Vorkuta, Komi Republic, Russia. The explosions were believed to be caused by ignition of leaking methane gas. It is the second deadliest mining disaster of the 2010s behind the Soma mine disaster, and fourth deadliest of the 21st century thus far.
Alpha Metallurgical Resources, formerly Contura Energy, is a leading coal supplier with underground and surface coal mining complexes across Northern and Central Appalachia. Contura owns large coal basins in Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia which supply both metallurgical coal to produce steel and thermal coal to generate power.
