

surface mines. This truck cost @ $1,000,000 -
no wonder they run it about 22 hours of the day,
about 340 days of the year.
In some locations, the coal lies deep in the ground, but in others, only a few feet from the surface. If the material above the coal (overburden) can be removed, then there is easy access to the coal. Sometimes the tops of mountains can be removed to expose the coal, other times vast acreage of mines is created. Either way, this technique requires the ability to move vast quantities of rock and coal. Surface mining is an expensive operation, with environmental challenges, and a great deal of expense. It can, however, extract lots of coal with which to provide the engines of industry (and the computer chips, etc.) the energy they require.
The removal of both the coal and the overburden is performed with some of the largest mining vehicles in existence. First, the overburden is drilled into with power drills. The intent is to use explosives to fragment the various rock layers into manageable chunks that can be removed. Then, the holes are filled with an explosive mixture of fuel oil and fertilizer. The fragmented rock is then scooped with very large buckets via draglines. The process then repeats but this time the coal is fragmented with explosives. This is done by truck, or by miles of coal conveyor belts. After collection, the coal is transported to the breaker. There the coal is crushed and a cursory cleaning is performed to remove the large pieces of rock.



A special form of surface mining is Mountain Top Removal. This occurs in locations such as West Virginia and eastern Kentucky. This is a highly contentious form of mining that provides jobs and tax benefits to the region, but damages streams and removes mountains. Dam bursts of coal dust retention ponds have also been a problem.
Click on the images to learn more about what you are seeing.
The scale of these mines can be very impressive, check out a drone view of a surface coal mine.

Reclamation
Mining reclamation is now required for all active mines, but that was not always the case. There are many sites where the work finished and the miners and the owners just walked (or ran) away. Not only is mining reclamation the norm these days, but it is also required. Mined land is required to be returned to its original contours. A tax on every ton of coal (15 cents for surface coal) helped to fund "Superfund", a large-scale government environmental program for cleaning up the abandoned mine sites. The fund, which started in 1978, is now in the many millions (fines, interest, and late payments are also included). The ash from fluidized beds is currently used in the anthracite region to fill in the open pits from long ago abandoned strip mines. This reclamation and others help to remediate acid mine drainage, prevent landslides, and aids in recovering land for other useful purposes, such as land development to the West of Pittsburgh International Airport.
So after the coal is removed the overburden is moved back, leveled, the topsoil is returned, and vegetation planted.
