The coal industry is reviving due to the high costs of other fossil fuels.
Coal mining is a dirty job. A dirty job that pays pretty well, even at entry-levels. According to the "Roughneck Chronicles," an online source of information about the various types of fossil fuel mining, including coal mining, the high entry-level pay and fast increases to top wages make it an attractive career for many, especially those who live in the mountainous rural areas where coal mines usually exist.
Instructions
1. Research the type of job coal mining is to be sure it is what you want to do. Coal mining is a hands on, dirty job. There aren't many office cubicles in a coal mine. You will be underground, sometimes in very tight spaces, working in the dirt.
2. Live near coal mining areas. Coal mining is a regional specific occupation. It is not possible to get a job coal mining where no coal, or coal mines exist. The most common areas for coal mining are in the Midwest and southeastern United States in states such as Tennessee, Kentucky, West Virginia, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Colorado is also an area with prolific coal mining camps.
3. Attend a coal mining class sponsored by the coal industry and often the states involved. Classes teach everything new workers need to survive under the mountains in coal mines. They include courses in gas-explosions, fires, as well as typical excavation methods.
4. Pass a qualification course and get a miners' card from the state you wish to work in. These cards qualify you to work in a coal mine as a miner, but not necessarily to drive heavy machinery. Coal trucks require an additional CDL license.
5. Have experience in earth moving machinery, especially longwall shears, sod and dirt cutting machines and plows typically used to loosen and move compacted earth walls. Have backgrounds in geology, heavy equipment mechanics, construction, engineering, analysis, and metallurgy. Other background experience that helps is either scholastic or field experience as a miner, mining foreman, process metallurgist, underground mine geologist, safety manager, project manager or supervisor.
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