# EIA Coal & Mining MCP

> EIA Coal & Mining — Solid Fuels Intelligence provides deep data into U.S. coal production and the solid fuels market. Get mine-level output, national aggregate totals, regional sales prices for bituminous, subbituminous, lignite, and anthracite ranks, and key quality metrics like heat content and sulfur percentage. You also track international trade flows, recoverable reserves, and even nuclear facility outage events.

## Overview
- **Category:** data-analytics
- **Price:** Free
- **Tags:** coal-production, energy-market, commodity-pricing, resource-reserves, industrial-data, energy-statistics

## Description

This MCP lets you build a complete picture of the coal supply chain, from the mine pit to the market price tag. Instead of cross-referencing multiple government PDFs or calling different data feeds for separate metrics, your agent pulls everything together. You can track individual mine output and compare it to national totals by state and fuel type. Need to know if a shift in international trade will affect regional prices? The MCP handles that link. Furthermore, you get specific details on coal quality—heat content, sulfur, ash percentages—so you aren't just looking at tons of coal, but usable energy metrics. When you connect this intelligence source through Vinkius, your AI client can run complex queries about reserves and production capacity against current market prices in a single conversational flow. This saves hours of manual data synthesis.

## Tools

### get_coal_production
Gets aggregate coal production data categorized by state, mine type, and fuel rank.

### get_mine_production
Fetches specific output volumes for individual mines across the U.S. system.

### get_coal_prices
Retrieves detailed coal market prices by rank, region, and specific mine type.

### get_coal_quality
Provides key metrics on coal consumption quality: heat content, sulfur percentage, and ash levels.

### get_coal_trade
Calculates coal imports and exports by country, quantity, and associated price data.

### get_coal_reserves
Checks current estimates for recoverable reserves, productive capacity, and stored stocks.

## Prompt Examples

**Prompt:** 
```
What are the largest coal mines in the U.S.?
```

**Response:** 
```
⛏️ **Top 5 U.S. Coal Mines by Production**

1. North Antelope Rochelle (WY) — 96M short tons
2. Black Thunder (WY) — 68M
3. Antelope Mine (WY) — 38M
4. Belle Ayr (WY) — 28M
5. Cordero Rojo (WY) — 26M

Wyoming's Powder River Basin dominates U.S. production.
```

**Prompt:** 
```
What is the current price of bituminous coal?
```

**Response:** 
```
🪨 **Bituminous Coal — Market Price**

Average: $68.40/short ton
Appalachia: $82.50/ton
Illinois Basin: $52.30/ton
Western: $14.80/ton (subbituminous)

Prices vary dramatically by region and coal rank.
```

**Prompt:** 
```
Are there any nuclear plant outages right now?
```

**Response:** 
```
☢️ **Current Nuclear Outages**

3 reactors currently offline:
1. Byron Unit 2 (IL) — Refueling, ETA: 45 days
2. Calvert Cliffs Unit 1 (MD) — Planned maintenance
3. South Texas Unit 2 (TX) — Unplanned, investigating

90 of 93 commercial reactors operating.
```

## Capabilities

### Assess Supply vs. Demand
Compare individual mine-level output to national totals, modeling how localized supply changes impact overall commodity availability.

### Model Price Volatility
Determine if shifts in international trade or reserve capacity are driving current market price fluctuations by rank and region.

### Evaluate Fuel Quality Impact
Run reports that link a specific coal's quality metrics, like high sulfur content, directly to its overall productive capacity.

### Track Operational Disruptions
Cross-reference scheduled or unplanned nuclear facility outages with current regional production rates to forecast energy gaps.

## Use Cases

### Investigating Price Spikes
A trader notices a sudden jump in bituminous coal prices. They ask the agent to check get_coal_trade and get_mine_production simultaneously to see if a key export route was suddenly disrupted or if local mine output dropped unexpectedly.

### Planning Utility Upgrades
A procurement manager needs to plan for five years out. They use get_coal_reserves and get_coal_quality to build a report showing when the current reserves might fail to meet necessary heat content standards.

### Assessing Market Concentration
A policy analyst wants to see which single mines are contributing most significantly to state totals. They query get_mine_production and then run a comparative analysis with get_coal_prices to pinpoint market leverage points.

### Forecasting Supply Gaps
The team is worried about regulatory changes. They use get_coal_production alongside data on nuclear facility outages to forecast potential supply gaps in specific regions, helping guide investment decisions.

## Benefits

- Determine local output shifts: Quickly check individual mine-level production using get_mine_production, then compare that data against the state totals provided by get_coal_production.
- Model economic impact: Understand how a reduction in overall recoverable reserves (get_coal_reserves) changes expected prices across different ranks via get_coal_prices.
- Assess quality risk: Use get_coal_quality to check if available coal meets required heat content and sulfur thresholds for specific utility needs.
- Trace global dependencies: Analyze how international trade flows, reported by get_coal_trade, affect domestic supply availability.
- Build a full picture: Combine the physical metrics (production, reserves) with market data (prices, quality) to move past simple reporting into true scenario planning.

## How It Works

The bottom line is you stop gathering raw data and start getting actionable market intelligence that connects supply, demand, and price history.

1. Start by asking your agent about a specific market concern, like 'What happens if the lignite reserve drops?'
2. The MCP runs multiple specialized queries across production, reserves, and trade data to build a multi-faceted answer.
3. You get back an integrated analysis showing the physical limitations and how they correlate with current pricing trends.

## Frequently Asked Questions

**How do I check if a mine's output affects the market price using get_mine_production and get_coal_prices?**
You ask your agent to correlate them. The MCP takes specific output data from get_mine_production and compares it against real-time pricing trends via get_coal_prices, giving you a localized impact assessment.

**Can I compare coal quality metrics across different states using get_coal_quality?**
Yes. You can run queries that aggregate data from get_coal_quality to show average heat content or sulfur levels, allowing you to spot regional differences in fuel grade.

**What if I want to see how global trade affects my state's production? Do I use get_coal_trade?**
Exactly. Use get_coal_trade for the international data, and then pair it with get_coal_production to create a full picture of domestic supply stability versus foreign demand.

**Is this MCP better than just using a standard database query?**
Yes. A standard query retrieves raw numbers; this MCP provides the *relationship*. It analyzes how getting coal_reserves relates to get_coal_prices, giving you context instead of just data points.

**How do I check the total recoverable coal reserves and productive capacity using get_coal_reserves?**
It provides a full picture of recoverable reserves, productive capacity, and current stocks. Run this tool to model long-term resource availability for strategic planning.

**If I need national totals by state, should I use get_coal_production instead of listing individual mines?**
Yes, this tool delivers aggregate national and state production totals. It lets you compare overall output across different coal types and ranks without needing to look up every single mine.

**What specific data inputs does get_coal_quality require when analyzing heat content, sulfur, and ash?**
The tool requires parameters defining the sector or consumption type. You define the scope—for example, specifying 'Appalachian Basin'—and receive quality metrics for heat, sulfur, and ash percentages.

**If I run multiple complex queries in a short time span, are there any rate limits when using these tools?**
Vinkius manages standard API request rates across all integrated tools. For heavy or continuous querying, batch requests are recommended; check the documentation for specific usage tiers.

**Does this include nuclear data?**
Yes! In addition to comprehensive coal data, this server includes EIA nuclear outage tracking for all U.S. commercial nuclear reactors. For nuclear generation data, see the Electricity server.