More than 51 percent of the electricity generated in the United States comes from coal. Learn how coal is mined by viewing the virtual coal mine tour.

The virtual coal mine tour takes you on a trip through an underground coal mine. Listen to the safety precautions miners must remember. Get on the cage and descend down 300 feet to the bottom. Climb aboard the man-trip for the ride to the face. Find out why the walls underground are white instead of black as coal.  See a longwall mining operation and a room-and-pillar operation. Discover how the miners support the ceiling or roof of the mine. Jump on the conveyor belt and ride with the coal to the preparation plant. Learn how coal is washed and sized before being loaded into trucks to be taken to the power plant.