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For comparison, the second largest producer, the United States, produced more than 1.1 billion tons in 2007. An estimated 5 million people work in China's coal-mining industry. As many as 20,000 miners die in accidents each year. [66] Most Chinese mines are deep underground and do not produce the surface disruption typical of strip mines.
The History of coal mining goes back thousands of years, with early mines documented in ancient China, the Roman Empire and other early historical economies. It became important in the Industrial Revolution of the 19th and 20th centuries, when it was primarily used to power steam engines, heat buildings and generate electricity.
People have worked as coal miners for centuries, but they became increasingly important during the Industrial Revolution when coal was burnt on a large scale to fuel stationary and locomotive engines and heat buildings. Owing to coal's strategic role as a primary fuel, coal miners have figured strongly in labor and political movements since ...
In the decade 2005–2014, US coal mining fatalities averaged 28 per year. [45] The most fatalities during the 2005–2014 decade were 48 in 2010, the year of the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster in West Virginia, which killed 29 miners. [81] 2016 was the first year in U.S. coal mining history that had no fatalities due to coal mine roof falls. [82]
Power stations that burn coal also consume large quantities of water. This can affect the flows of rivers, and has consequential impacts on other land uses. In areas of water scarcity, such as the Thar Desert in Pakistan, coal mining and coal power plants contribute to the depletion of water resources. [146]
US Annual coal production by coal rank. Trends in surface versus underground mining of coal in the US Bowman Company coal mine, Indiana County, Pennsylvania, 1904.. The history of coal mining in the United States starts with the first commercial use in 1701, within the Manakin-Sabot area of Richmond, Virginia. [1]
The collapse of an 11-story coal mining plant in Martin County left two workers trapped under the rubble as crews worked to free them Wednesday. One of the workers has since been confirmed dead ...
Some mining methods (lithium mining, phosphate mining, coal mining, mountaintop removal mining, and sand mining) may have such significant environmental and public health effects that mining companies in some countries are required to follow strict environmental and rehabilitation codes to ensure that the mined area returns to its original ...