The Pros And Cons Of Coal Usage And Mining

Coal is very important because it is used to make electricity. This is true however coal has many other uses which will be outlined in this report. This report will also explain what coal is, what coal is used for, how coal is formed. It will also detail how coal is located through to the process of how coal is mined in particular open-cut mining. I am also going to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of coal usage and mining. how coal is extracted from the ground, we will also be looking at a flow chat about the steps of an open-cut mining in progress, the disadvantages and advantages of consumption of coal and if overall coal mining good, bad or important.

Coal is a sedimentary rock that is mostly made up of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen,

During this process the dead plants and organisms go through a process called carbonisation which forms into a rock which we know as coal. Before mining starts geologist must locate the coal. They do this by geochemical and geophysical surveys. Geochemical is when they measure the chemistry of rocks, the soil and stream sediments or plant to see the abnormal chemical patterns that might possibly point to areas of mineralisation. Geophysical is when they determine the layout of the Earth’s subsurface by measuring the difference between rock types or physical break or gap without seeing them directly. They do these tests to make sure that there is coal where they want to mine so they don’t waste money on digging in a place that has nothing there that they want. Once all the test are finished and they come back positive that there is coal in that area then they begin to mine. Coal is extracted from the ground by mining. There are many types of methods for mining, such as strip mining, contour mining and underground mining but the type of mining method that I am concentrating on is surface mining but comely know as open cut