Trade Associations:

National Mining Association

Yahoo Sites: See specific aspects of coal -- use underlined links above.

Regulation:

Coal mining is regulated directly by the states, and indirectly by the Environmental Protection Agency, the Mine Safety and Health Administration, the Office of Surface Mining, and several other federal agencies.

Government information:
Energy Information Administration (Home page):

1. Coal Introduction -- Includes consumption, reserves, trade and forecast.

Other EIA coal data and information (Menu):

2. Changing Structure of the US Coal Industry (PDF): This publication provides a comprehensive overview of changes in the structure of the US coal industry between 1976 and 1991. The structural elements examined include the number of mines, average mine size, the size distribution of mines, and the size distribution of coal firms. The report measures changes in the market shares of the largest coal producers at the national level and in various regions. The Central Appalachian low-sulfur coal market is given special attention, and the market for coal reserves is examined. A history of mergers in the coal industry is presented, and changes in the proportions of US coal output that are produced by various types of companies, including foreign-controlled firms, are described. Finally, the impact of post-1991 mergers on the structure of the industry is estimated. File Size: 500 k.

4. Coal Industry Annual - (PDF): This publication provides comprehensive information about US coal production, number of mines, prices, consumption, distribution, stocks, coal quality, emissions, productivity, employment, productive capacity, and recoverable reserves. Appendix A contains a compilation of coal statistics for the major coal-producing States. File Size: 2.2 meg.

5. State Coal Profiles (PDF): This publication summarizes basic information on the coal deposits, the development of the coal industry, and the use of coal in each of the 27 States with coal production in 1992. Includes use of coal from other states. This information should serve as the basis for more detailed analyses of the role an individual State's coal resources and coal industry have in contributing to the Nation's coal requirements. File Size: 6 meg.

6. Quarterly Coal Report (PDF): This publication provides comprehensive information about US coal production, distribution, exports, imports, receipts, prices, consumption, and stocks on a quarterly basis. File Size: 1 meg. Executive Summary.

7. Weekly Coal Production Report: This publication, updated weekly, presents estimates of US coal production on a State by State basis as derived from data on railroad car loadings.

Trade periodicals and Publications:

Coal Age is free to qualified readers. Provides in-depth articles on US and world operations, business, engineering and technology, plus news and regular departments that track industry trends and federal, state and local regulatory issues. Published by Intertec Publishing, US.
COAL Daily tracks U.S. coal market developments, including spot coal prices and market and business news --e-mail or fax delivery. Published by Fieldston Publications. Not cheap. Fieldston also publishes Coal Transportation Report, Coal Markets Bulletin, Coal Markets PriceLine, Coal Transportation Manual, Rail Business and Intermodal Business.
International Coal Report from FT Energy Publishing, London, UK. International coal trade matters are covered; includes steam, coking, transport, mining, companies and events.
Coal International covers technical and commercial matters relating to coal. Articles include special features, industry news and new product developments. Publisher: Trade Link ,UK.
The McClosky Big Coal Book -- Detailed coal specifications for both consumers and producers are listed, as well as an extensive coal trade database including contract details, tonnage exported and imported, shipping distances and price series (approx 520 pages). Published by: McCloskey Coal Information Services Ltd.
National Coal Leader --"Promoting Coal, Rail, and Power Through Awareness and Understanding". Published by National Coal Leader, US.
Elsevier Science BV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands publishes a range of coal and coal related information. Try the search facility.

Other information sources:

IGC: Mining -- many links to other mining resources on the web.
World Coal Institute, UK -- index page. Full list of publications, videos, etc available from the Institute. Also see the Ecoal Newsletter.
Resource Data International -- publishes research reports, databases and maps.
Center for Energy and Economic Development -- policy analyses and educational material.
Coal Information Network has many coal links.
The Coal WWW Virtual Library by the Australian Federal Department of Primary Industries and Energy. A huge, excellent site. World class.
Inspect a surface mine with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
Coal Mining in Pennsylvania includes several good links.
Coal Links and documents from the Kentucky Coal Marketing and Export Council.
NIOSH Office of Mine Safety and Health Research Pittsburgh and Spokane Laboratories.
Coal questions and answers -- facts about coal, clean coal technology glossary and a picture index. Published by the Illinois Clean Coal Institute.
College of Earth and Mineral Sciences, PennState -- Includes definition of coal, coal structure, energy conversion efficiency and coal utilization.
Energy Technology Data Exchange - an international consortium, owns the Energy Database, with over 3 million bibliographic citations of international energy research and development information.
Western Coal Council (http://www.westcoal.org/) is an association of coal suppliers, coal consumers, power and coal traders, transportation companies, ports/terminals, international firms and industry associates.
Lignite Energy Council (http://www.lignite-energy-council.org/) promotes the use of lignite, a low quality but plentiful form of coal in the north-central US.

A sample of firms:

Black & Veach -- facility design and construction, environmental engineering.
D'Appolonia -- geology and geotechnical engineering.
ICF Kaiser International -- engineering, economic analysis.
Mining Consultants, Inc. -- facility design and construction.
Skelly and Loy, Inc. -- facility design and construction, mine management, etc.