[defrost]

> Yet we tell the coal miners to go take job retraining because photovoltaic are a better power source than burning carbon.

Do we?

Last I checked (after decades in the mining industry from driving haul paks to geophysical exploration to selling global mineral intelligence software to Standard & Poor) :

Coal mining skills easily transfer to Lithium mining (etc).

Fitters and turners still fit and turn, belt splicers still splice belts, industrial electricians still pull wire and lace looms, mechanics are still required and will easily adapt to EV heavy machines as they've been working on those since the 1970s (electric shovels, ship loaders, etc).

Could you outline some things that coal miners do that aren't applicable to rare earth mining?