Surface Coal Mining

• Published by: Mining Remediation Authority
• Last updated: 10 April 2026
• Topic: Not added
• Licence: License not specified

Summary

Surface Mining Areas denote an area of coal extracted by surface excavations in the past or are being excavated currently, these sites do not necessarily reflect the extent of the excavation. Coal resources may still be available within these areas due to the inefficiencies of some historic mining techniques. These areas are often referred to as “opencast mining”.

Together with the Surface Coal Resource Area data, provide information to Mineral Planning Authorities for assisting in defining Mineral Safeguarding Areas in policy strategy.

In November 2024, the Coal Authority changed its name to the Mining Remediation Authority to better reflect its mission and continued commitment to environmental sustainability, safety, and community support.

More from this publisher

All datasets from Mining Remediation Authority

Search

Data links

Link to the data	Format	File added	Data preview
Map viewer	HTML	10 April 2026	Not available
WMTS	WMTS	10 April 2026	Not available

Supporting documents

Link to the document	Format	Date added
Guidance	HTML	10 April 2026
User guide	HTML	10 April 2026

Contact

Enquiries

Mining Remediation Authority

Freedom of Information (FOI) requests

Contact Mining Remediation Authority regarding this dataset Freedom of information requests for this dataset

Edit this dataset

You must have an account for this publisher on data.gov.uk to make any changes to a dataset.