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Chapter Two MINING COAL

C oal is extracted, or taken out of the ground, by mining. The earliest coal miners were not only men, but also women and children, who hacked at the coal with simple tools like stone flint choppers, animal horns and antlers, and early iron axes. Today’s North American mines are highly technical and utilize some of the biggest machines in the world. But the work is still a very tough and physical, with many possible dangers.

borehole: a deep hole, drilled or bored into the ground. excavator: a machine, usually with one or more toothed wheels or buckets, that digs material out of the ground. seismic: waves in the form of vibrations, or “shaking,” that pass through the Earth. Words to Understand

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