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.
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 CoalGlossary
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