[ckissick]

The German excavator is used in coal mining. They have a few working in the same pit. I visited the site on a college field trip (Imperial College, London). We walked right up to one of them. Yes, the are big. Really big. In fact, the biggest in the world. Big Muskie is pretty impressive, too.

There were no dump trucks in the German coal pit. Everything was moved with conveyors, then eventually to trains after processing.

Also, get this. Since the coal deposits are very widespread, there are many towns over the coal. As the pit marches across the land and reaches a town, they dismantle the entire town and rebuild it at the back side of the pit, on reclaimed land. And their environmental controls are so strict, they even relocate ant colonies. It's truly amazing what lengths we'll go through for natural resources.