Hard to believe that North Dakota has coal mining. The coal found here is lignite coal. Its got a low sulphur content so its good for burning in power plants that generate electricity. The Falkirk Mine is fairly new although it is mining on some ground that was mined in the past. Its pretty much flat open prairie in the area. They dig down to the coal moving tons of earth. You can see the big strip of black on the side of the hill -- that's the coal. We took a tour through the mine -- you just ride in a van and the driver tells you what's going on around you. Its just big open pits -- the original mining that took place was in underground mines. The pits like to fill up with water so they are constantly pumping them out.
They load the big haulers with the coal and then haul it over to the power plant. The haulers were huge and each one hold 200 tons of coal. When they get to the power plant the belly of the hauler opens and the coal all dumps out in about 20 seconds -amazing. The power plant that's burning all this coal actually is generating electricity that goes to two thirds of rural Minnesota.
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