He sent his son to investigate the Preece property, a 5, 000-hectare coalfield in Kentucky.

FORBES: Magazine Article

He sent his son to investigate the Preece property, a 12, 500-acre coalfield in Kentucky.

FORBES: Fuel's Paradise

It was also a lifeline for industry in Clackmannanshire, with freight travelling from the Dollar coalfield to Longannet power station.

BBC: Trains back on track after 40 years

Now called Coalfield Resources, the company has split its operations into a mining arm and a property division.

BBC: Daw Mill mine in Warwickshire remains 'under threat'

Today, there are no deep pits in Scotland, only one in Wales and a just handful in Yorkshire, once the heartland of the UK coalfield.

BBC: NEWS | UK | Miners' strike marked around UK

Despite the decline of the Welsh coalfield, sales of the Welsh lamps produced at their Cambrian Lamp Works factory have gone from strength to strength.

BBC: Site launch lights up mining past

My grandfather was working in the anthracite coalfield and in relation to his memory I will not be taking part in any obituaries to Margaret Thatcher.

BBC: Baroness Thatcher: Lord Elis-Thomas will not pay tribute

Local politicians representing the coalfield communities affected are also involved.

BBC: Open cast mining

Housing and Communities Minister Alex Neil said the government was "committed to the future of the trust and coalfield communities" and added he was in dialogue with the trust to see how money could "go further".

BBC: Scottish Labour debate: Regeneration

The south Wales coalfield moved into an operating profit for the first time since 1958 but pit closures continued and substantial recent investments were written off in what seemed to be a vindictive retaliation by the government.

BBC: Wales politics