Energy infrastructure • Coal
Global Coal Mines
Operating and proposed coal mines worldwide, covering bituminous, subbituminous, anthracite, and lignite extraction. Coal remains the single largest source of CO₂ emissions globally and is the primary fuel input for blast furnace steelmaking (coking coal) and power generation (thermal coal).
Source: Global Energy Monitor — Global Coal Mine Tracker, CC BY 4.0
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Behind the dots
The phase-out narrative, against the production record
Coal production hit a record of about 9.1 billion tonnes in 2024 and held near that level in 2025[2]. China mined roughly 4.7 billion tonnes of it and India another 1.1, together about two-thirds of world output (computed from the IEA tonnages)[2]. The phase-out is real where the demand curves bend, but it is a consumption story in the OECD, not yet a supply story where these dots cluster.
The forward pipeline says so plainly: 837 new mine proposals totalling about 2,533 Mtpa were in development in 2025, up roughly 12 percent on the prior year, with 700 Mtpa already under construction; China's proposed capacity alone exceeds the rest of the world combined[1,3].
◐ inferred So read this map as two different objects: in Europe, North America and Australia a legacy asset base with retirement dates; in China, India and Indonesia a supply system still being expanded to back a power fleet that treats coal as energy security. Which of the two a given mine belongs to matters more than its size.
Sources (3)
- [1] Global Energy Monitor, Global Coal Mine Tracker (May 2026 release, CC BY 4.0): ~7,000 mines tracked in 70 countries; 837 mine proposals totalling 2,533 Mtpa in development, 700 Mtpa of it under construction.
- [2] IEA, Coal 2025 (analysis and forecast to 2030): record ~9.1 billion tonnes produced in 2024, held near that level in 2025; China ~4.7 Bt and India ~1.1 Bt.
- [3] Global Energy Monitor, Still Digging 2025: China's 1,329 Mtpa of proposed mine capacity exceeds the rest of the world combined.
Mine locations from GEM's Global Coal Mine Tracker (CC BY 4.0). Production from the IEA's Coal 2025; the two-thirds share is computed from IEA tonnages, not quoted. Proposal pipeline from GEM's Still Digging 2025. The closing read is this analyst's inference.