Coal Hard Facts Ore Mine Eyes Have Seen the Light
An Integrated, Interdisciplinary, Thematic Unit on the Formation and Production of Coal and Its Impact on Society Coal is a naturally formed organic rock. It forms from compressed and altered decaying plant material. It is combustible and is therefore used as a fossil fuel. Coal is one of America's most abundant energy sources. It has been mined in Virginia since the early 1700's and accounts for the majority of the Commonwealth's mineral wealth. Virginia has played an important role in coal mining and is perhaps the home of the first recorded coal mine in the history of the United States.