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by ceejayoz 951 days ago
We're doing deep underground mining for coal, mountain-top removal mining, and stuff like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagger_288 ("surface" mining, technically) to get at it even today. How much readily accessible surface coal is left?

Note that your link says "include only the coal that can be mined with today's mining technology". A fresh industrial revolution likely wouldn't start with "today's mining technology".
1 comments
Turing_Machine 951 days ago
How much readily accessible surface coal is left?

As the reference also says, 53% of it is recoverable by surface mining. Bagger 288 is only notable for being a big shovel. It doesn't do anything that couldn't be done by guys with smaller shovels. 30 meters deep is nothing. The Big Hole in South Africa was dug to 240 meters deep by hand.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Hole

Edit:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_coal_mining

"By 1856, the average depth in the Borinage was 361 meters (1,184 ft), and in 1866, 437 meters (1,434 ft) and some pits had reached down 700 to 900 meters (2,300 to 3,000 ft); one was 1,065 meters (3,494 ft) deep, probably the deepest coal mine in Europe at this time."

Maybe time to take the L and move on?

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ceejayoz 951 days ago
The mine Bagger 288 services goes sixteen hundred feet deep.

The Big Hole is absolutely miniscule in comparison - 42 acres - and mining for diamonds is a lot more lucrative by volume.

You're not digging out https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Bannerak... by hand.

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Qwertious 951 days ago
Ok but https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peatland
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ceejayoz 951 days ago
"Peatlands are under threat by commercial peat harvesting" is right there in the intro. The article indicates we've already wiped out half, and that's with coal/oil available as the better option.

The question isn't "is there stuff to burn", it's "is there enough to burn to bootstrap a self-sustaining industrial economy". Our industrial revolution took place in a time where oil bubbled to the surface in Texas, coal could be dug up from rich surface seams with a shovel, and copper as pure crystals.

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