Throughout the Dales there are numerous small coal mines, mainly worked from shallow shafts or levels, wherever the thin coal seams of the Yoredale Group e.g the Tan Hill Coal, and Millstone Grit Group e.g the Woogill Coal outcrop. The importance of coal shows in the place name Colsterdale in the north of the Project Area. Around Ingleton in the Craven Basin south of the Craven faults, the deeper and thicker coal seams of the Pennine Lower (including the Six Feet and Four Feet seams) and Middle (Nine Feet and Ten Feet seams) Coal Measures Formations were worked until the mid twentieth century, although the planned New Village at Ingleton is now the main evidence for this industry.
In the Vale of York there are extensive underground reserves of coal and, currently, they are being worked at Kellingley Colliery and, formerly, were worked by the mines of the Selby Coalfield.