Fife Coalfield

Over fifty collieries were in operation at various times between the middle of the nineteenth century and the closure of the last pit in 1988.

[1] The coalfield extended across the southern part of Fife where rocks of the Coal Measures Group occur and was one of a series of coalfields throughout the Midland Valley from which coal was won by both deep workings and opencasting methods.

[2] The Longannet power station near Kincardine used to source much of its coal from nearby pits but the Longannet coal mine closed after severe flooding in 2002, an event which more or less marked the end of deep mining in Fife and indeed Scotland.

Opencasting in Fife was severely reduced after the premature closure of the power station.

As of 2020, most opencasts have ceased production of coal, not only on a regional level but in Scotland as a whole.