COAL SURFACE MINING PAGE

Contains Surface Coal Mining Information

A large shovel loads 200 ton haul trucks with mined coal from a Western Coal Surface Mine. The overlying rock (overburden) and the coal was drilled and blasted with explosives, The rock was removed to a fill area, and some will be used to reclaim the mine when production ceases. The coal is hauled from the mine to a plant where it is crushed, sized and processed to remove impurities, then it is shipped (in this case) to a steam generating power plant to produce electricity.

A Mountain Top Removal Mine, using a Dragline to remove overburden and mine coal. This particular mine took a very steep mountain, sliced the top off, creating a flat area, where after mining a school was built on the site, and is still being utilized. This was one school located in mountainous East Kentucky that did not ever have to worry about flooding!

A surface coal mine in Wyoming, which has a 60 foot thick seam of coal, sub bituminous and lignite, which is why the coal has a brown tint. This large surface coal mine used draglines, shovels to mine the coal. It is not processed, other than crushing and screening, and is sold to the steam generating plants. Although it has a low BTU value 4,000 - 6,000 BTU (vs. 12,500 for Bituminous Steam Coal), it has almost no sulfur, which makes it appealing to coal burning power plants.

Another Large Dragline, mining coal at a Colorado Coal Mine. Notice the Preparation Plant and Mine facilities in the background.