Now, near-record high energy prices on world markets are bringing the traditional work of mining back to Wales, one of the poorer regions of Britain.
"It's an old dinosaur, a dirty word," said Rhidian Davies, a thirty-year veteran of Welsh coal mining who is as surprised as anyone at the turn of events. "Nobody ever thought coal prices would be this high."
Davies is the managing director of Energybuild, which is mining the Aberpergwm Colliery in the Neath valley, the heartland of coal mining in south Wales. Aberpergwm was one of the many pits closed by state-run British Coal in the aftermath of the miners' strike in the 1980s, but now it is open again, hiring men and talking about expanding.
As China builds coal-fired power stations to meet demand for electricity, the price of coal -- along with almost every other form of energy, from oil to ethanol -- is booming.
Prices of coal for delivery in Europe hit a record high of almost $130 per tonne in late October, double what they were at the start of the year and around five times as much as in the late 1980s. Industry watchers expect that number to rise even further next year.
Such is demand for electricity and concern that coal prices could rise further that the Aberthaw power station, owned by Germany's RWE, is considering a 10-year supply contract with Aberpergwm instead of the normal one or two years, Davies said.
"It's politically very sensitive," Davies said of the Aberthaw contract. "They don't want to be totally reliant on foreign coal."
COAL MEANS JOBS
At ground level, coal has always meant jobs in Wales, and today it is no different.
From employing more than a quarter of a million people in the early 20th century, Welsh mining was decimated after the miners strike of 1984 and 1985, in which former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher took on the powerful National Union of Mineworkers, led by Arthur Scargill, and won.
As jobs disappeared, the villages and towns that grew up around mines were drained of cash. The legacy lives on into the 21st century.
"You can find dead-end valleys an hour's drive from cities, there are so few jobs, long-term unemployment, and high levels of economic inactivity," said Chris Williams, professor of Welsh history at Swansea University.
"These communities are shadows of their former selves."
Davies, whose family ties to the area and to the job are strong, is keen to employ as many local men as possible.
"It's sad what we witnessed," he said. "Things that happened then are still fresh."
Nearby Tower Colliery is running out of coal to mine, and will soon be closing. Some 300 jobs will go, but Energybuild could take on up to 100 of those, Davies reckons.
It's not only coal mining that investors are looking at again. Record prices for industrial metals may make Anglesey Mining's
At Aberpergwm, Davies is hoping Britain's need for energy security will continue to drive demand for Welsh coal. "Strategically, what have we got? Oil and gas are running out, but we have got coal," he said.
Britain became a net importer of fuel in 2004, and last year domestic energy production lagged consumption by more than 20 percent, according to government figures.
And while Britain has ready-made infrastructure and labour, it is less amenable to new projects than developing countries in Africa and South America, which are doing all they can to attract investment in mining.
And at a time when environmental concerns about coal are high, there are no tax breaks or other government incentives on the table for Welsh coal mining, said Peter Hain, Minister for Wales in the British government.
"The future's got to be clean," Hain said. "I don't think there's a great appetite for coal mining that's not driven by power stations that are clean."
