This photo is the type of mining I am now doing. I re-mine old refuse piles that were deposited as waste back when the coal cleaning technology wasn't available to recover fine coal particles and therefore they were dicarded along with the rock. Many of these sites are scattered across the coal mining States. Many of these old site also burned for many years. When I was growing up in West Virginia I can remember going past a couple of different gob piles at night and you could see blue flames flickering up from them. They also had a terrible smell. In this picture you can see the orange area at the bottom. This is coal that has burned and the ash left from that burning. This burnt coal and ash is commonly called red dog.