Beech Creek Coal and Coke Co. - 1901 dated Mining Stock Certificate

Stock printed by American Bank Note Company, New York. Attractive stock! Coal mining involves extracting coal from the ground or a mine. Valued for its energy content, coal has been extensively used to generate electricity since the 1880s. It also serves as a crucial fuel in the steel and cement industries, where it is used to extract iron from ore and produce cement. In the United Kingdom and South Africa, a coal mine and its facilities are referred to as a colliery, with the mine itself known as a "pit" and the surface structures called a "pit head." In Australia, the term "colliery" typically denotes an underground coal mine. Coal mining has evolved significantly over time. Early methods involved manual labor with miners tunneling, digging, and transporting coal using carts. Today, large-scale mining operations use advanced equipment such as draglines, trucks, conveyors, hydraulic jacks, and shearers to facilitate open-cut and longwall mining techniques.