Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity

Coal Essay and Poster Contest Winners Reception
The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) held a reception May 11th at the Illinois Executive Mansion to recognize 25 young Illinois essayists and artists whose entries were selected to highlight the 2013 Illinois Coal Calendar.

2013 Winning Student Essays

2013 Winning Student Posters (large file, approx. 16 mb)

Download 25th Annual Coal Calendar Contest entry form here

Annual Coal Education Conference

2012 Coal Education Conference
Over 100 educators from across the state attended the 15th Annual Coal Education Conference June 19-22, 2012 at the Rend Lake Resort in Whittington, Illinois. The goal of the conference is to give teachers the knowledge and learning tools to incorporate into their lesson plans coal education, from mining to electric power generation, as well as other uses of coal. After participating in the conference, the hope is that teachers will have gained greater understanding of and respect for this abundant mineral and the industry's economic impact on mining regions of the state.

Save the Date: The 2013 Conference will be held June 18-21. Registration information will be available here in January 2013.

"From the Coal Mines to the Power Lines" Coal Curriculum
The curriculum is currently under review and will be available electronically at a later date. In the meantime check out the other resources below.

Coal Regions in the United States

Illinois Coal Industry Significant Dates

Coal Publications for All Ages

Illinois Coal Industry Report 2012

Fossil Forest in the Vermillion Grove mine

Questions about Coal Glossary

What is Coal?

Illinois Coal Fact Sheet

Working in an Underground Coal Mine

Plants to Coal Lessons with Activities

Posters

Cut-away of Underground Mine

Cutting Coal with a Continuous Miner

Installing Roof Bolts

Ram Car Coal Haulage

Surface Mining

Highwall Mining

Careers in a Coal Mine

I Work in a Coal Mine

Coal Transportation

Illinois Coal Industry Map

Videos

Underground Mining Occupations – Underground mining personnel are highly skilled and well trained in the use of state-of-the art equipment (45MB .avi file).
You may need to install the latest DIVX codec, found here, to view this video.

Surface Mining Occupations – Surface mine personnel use large powerful equipment to mine the coal and reclaim the land.

Virtual Mine Tour

Activities:

Geologic Time Line