Ever thought about mining coal as a means to make money? Reports claim that coal reserves total more than a trillion tons worldwide and that in the U.S. alone there are around 267 billion tons of recoverable coal which is enough coal to fuel the country’s energy demands for 240 years. The world’s leading coal producers are apparently on fire; and with oil and gas reserves set to be depleted within another four to six decades, there is expected to be a coal boom, or what Washington Post staff writer, Dale Ruskoff, called a second coal rush in his November 2006 piece “In Second Coal Rush, New Mind-Set in the Mines.”

Coal mining is of course hazardous work. In November 2007 an explosion in the Zasyadko coal mine in eastern Ukraine caused a collapse that took the lives at least 90 coal miners. In August 2007 172 miners lost their lives after they were trapped in a flooded mine in eastern China, and that same month, in the US state of Utah, a blast took the lives of 6 miners. Their bodies were never found. In May 2007 at least 35 Siberian coal miners were killed in blast. In January 2006 a coal mine explosion that may have been sparked by lightning took the lives of 12 miners in TALLMANSVILLE, W.Va, United States. These are just a few of the coal mining disasters that have occurred in recent years. Coal miners lose their lives on an almost daily basis, but coal mining pays well and where there’s good pay there will always be men willing to risk their lives by doing dangerous work.

Not willing to put your life on the line or subject your family to a lifetime of heartbreak for a measly $20 per hour? Maybe you prefer the thought of being the executive who owns the coal mining business, of hanging out on the golf course while thousands of men put their lives on the line to keep billions flowing into your bank account? You might be able to find a mining business for sale over at mergernetwork.com.