HOW COAL IS MINED

Extracting the fossilised remains of prehistoric animals can be a dangerous business – for people and the environment

- WORDS SCOTT DUTFIELD

It takes millions of years to form, but just moments to break coal apart. What began as lush vegetation around 300 million years ago has since decayed, decomposed, compressed and been heated over millions of years to become a hard rock packed with potential energy – a potential that was discovered thousands of years ago. Researchers have found evidence of coal fireplaces during the late Paleolithic period, around 10,000 years ago. The first written documentation of widespread coal use dates back to the Chinese Han dynasty around 2,000 years ago. Coal’s rise to global popularity, however, happened during the age of raging furnaces and the invention of the steam engine, known as the Industrial Revolution. With just a pickaxe and shovel to hand, 18th-century mining was a hard day's work for those who spent the day chipping away at coal seams.