Coal provides electricity, and is used for fuel  in steel and cement production, and  industrial applications.

Coal is a combustible, sedimentary, organic rock, which is composed mostly of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. Formed over time from vegetation, which has been consolidated between other rock strata and altered by the combined effects of pressure and heat over millions of years to form coal. 

With the recent nuclear disaster in Japan, coal will become more popular again. Modern extraction methods and electricity plants are far more environment friendly than in the past. Compared to the ongoing massive cleanup and possible health risk for decades, clean coal energy is far more attractive to investors and insurance companies.

The financial market will see the smart Coal Bull buy into solid long term mining properties. 

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Experts estimate there is over 847 billion tonnes of proven coal reserves worldwide. This means that there is enough coal to last us over 130+ years at current rates of production. In contrast, proven oil and gas reserves are equivalent to around 40 and 61 years at our current production needs.

Coal reserves are available in almost every country worldwide, There is recoverable reserves in around 70 countries. Biggest reserves are in the USA, Russia, China and India. Centuries of mineral exploration, the location, size and characteristics of most countries' coal resources are quite well known. What tends to vary much more than the assessed level of the resource - i.e. the potentially accessible coal in the ground - is the level classified as proved recoverable reserves. Proved recoverable reserves is the tonnage of coal that has been proved by drilling etc. and is economically and technically extractable.