The coal mining industry segment produces coal, a fossil fuel that is used primarily for electric power generation and in the production of steel. Like oil, coal is formed over millions of years from plant and animal matter, but unlike oil, coal is a solid, and therefore miners must go into the earth to recover it. Many coal seams are located close to the surface, however, which makes the extraction of this resource easier.

Surface mining of coal typically uses the method known as strip mining, which is usually more cost-effective than underground mining and requires fewer workers to produce the same quantity of coal. Mining companies are required by Federal, State, and local laws to restore the mined land after surface mining is completed; as a result, the overburden and topsoil are stored after removal so that they can be replaced and native vegetation replanted.

Underground mining is used when the coal deposit lies deep below the surface of the earth. When developing an underground mine, miners first must dig tunnels deep into the earth near the place where the coal is located. Underground mining does not require as extensive a reclamation process as surface mining; however, mine operators and environmental engineers still must ensure that ground water remains uncontaminated and that abandoned mines do not collapse.

Technological success has changed the life of everyone in the world and it has also changed the way coal mining companies explore and market coal. High-tech and safe exploitation and usage of coal is the demand of the 21st century. In order to correspond to these new requirements the effective organizing management of human resources must take place. In the 1950s, a new underground mining method appeared in Europe. It is called a ‘longwall mining’ method that applies laser technology. Today, it is widely used by coal mining companies in the world. From this moment the coal exploration, extraction and delivery to the market have become secure, effective, clean and not harmful for the environment.

Nowadays the use of computers, lasers, satellites and other technologies has become a usual thing in coal mining industry and many coal mining organizations. Of course, although the high technology is important, coal mining operation can't be run without mining equipment such as jaw crusher, coal mill, blasting machine, classifier. he high-tech mining technology is of great importance in enlarging the competitive forces of the coal mining industry. The state and private coal mining corporations make great efforts in order to put into action high-tech technologies, so that up-to-date equipment. The coal mining industry is becoming more and more mechanized.