Coal mining has come a long way since the dark days of canaries in cages. Davy lamps and grime covered miners with pick axes. In a modern mine you are more likely to come across a highly-qualified automation engineer tasked with keeping huge machines grinding away at the coal face. The choice of mining method is largely determined by the geology of the coal deposit. Underground mining currently accounts for about 60 per cent of world coal production, although in several important coal producing countries surface mining is more common. Surface mining accounts for around 80 per cent of production in Australia, while in the US it is 8 used for about 67 per cent.