New Zealand - Mining - Coal from nearby private mines being unloaded into railway trucks at Rapahoe - Circa 1960 - National Publicity Studios Photo Coal in NZ - New Zealand has 18 producing coal mines (October 2017) - These are all open cast mining operations, which in 2016 produced 2.9 million tonnes of coal, for domestic use and for export. - Coal is highly variable in quality and in its impurities from one mining operation to another. - An entire industry has grown around the purchase of coal from diverse sources; blending to client specifications; and transport, handling and support to individual users. - Coal is New Zealand's most abundant known energy resource, with an estimated 15 billion tonnes to which there is ready access - 80 per cent of this is brown coal or lignite. Link to lignite article. - Coal has played a key role in the development of modern New Zealand. - Coal's annual economic contribution to the country runs into many billions of dollars, thinking of steel, cement, food, wood and wool products, as examples of goods produced. (Reference; read more at https://www.letstalkaboutcoal.co.nz/coal-in-nz/) Image source: Auckland Libraries Heritage Collections 895-A47991 Copyright: Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga https://kura.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/digital/collection/photos/id/59896/rec/379