Restoration of Opencast Coal Sites to Agriculture, Forestry, or Native Heathland

Opencast mining for the low-cost extraction of shallow coal deposits is a major industry in the United Kingdom with an annual output of 18 million tonnes. In Scotland, 70 opencast sites produce 5 million tonnes per annum. Sites are located on the Carboniferous sediments of the Central Lowlands in land of variable agricultural quality (Figure 4.1). The size of opencast sites varies between 50 and 1,000 hectares. Figure 4.1 Location of opencast coal deposits in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. (Scale 1:1,000,000) https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780203740897/a566ad6b-0074-4470-85e6-1ecd66519723/content/fig4_1.tif"/>