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During the 19th century Britain used to have many coal and iron mines and had the natural resources to make textiles, steel and ships. Today, coal and textiles can be produced more cheaply in other countries and so many British factories and mines have closed.

Areas like south Wales, central Scotland, the north of England （the Midlands, Merseyside, Manchester, West Yorkshire and Newcastle） and London were important industrial centers.

Britain has large deposits of coal, mined for more than 300 years. For most of the 19th and 20th centuries, coal was Britain’s richest natural resource, meeting most of the nation’s requirement for energy. Today, coal can be produced more cheaply in other countries and so many British factories and mines have closed. In 1970 （Britain was the third largest producer of coal but coal production has declined rapidly since then. In 2000, only 35 million tones of coal was produced compared to 145 million in 1970.

Oil and gas were discovered under the North Sea during the 1960s and new supplies are still being found today. Gas has been particularly important in replacing coal as a fuel for generating electricity. Britain is using more and more energy every year. In the U.K., the majority of electricity is generated by a mix of fossil fuels and nuclear power, releasing millions of tones of carbon dioxide into the environment. The business of generating electricity from the wind is growing fast as the world looks for cleaner ways to produce energy. Coal, oil and gas fired power stations could eventually be replaced by wind farms and other forms or renewable energy.

In 1997, there were 550 wind turbines and over 30 wind farms in the U.K. The government has made a promise that 10% of the energy of the U.K. will come from renewable sources by 2010. Today wind is used to generate electricity using wind turbines. Like windmills, wind turbines are mounted on a tower to capture the most energy. They are 100 feet（30 meters） or more above ground.

Britain has relatively few mineral resources. Zinc, tin, iron ore, and copper are all produced in small quantities. At one time Cornwall boasted 2 000 tin mines and it was a world leader in tin production. The main commercial minerals are those used in the construction and building industries such as sand and gravel, limestone and gypsum. They are normally mined from the surface in quarries using heavy machinery. Smaller quarries are also found across England and provide stone for the local building industry. This means that many parts of England have a distinctive appearance according to the local stone available.