[Playboy5]

Can anyone tell me the difference in a Contour Strip Mine and a regular strip mine?

The Contour or Bench method of surface or strip mining is usually associated with coal, where a seam or multiple seams are located at a certain elevation or elevations through a mountain or hill.
Contour mining allows for the extraction of coal from mountainous areas, where it is not feasible to extract the entire seam, using mountain top removal mining. Contour mining allows for the partial removal of the coal seam at the elevation of the coal seam. Quite often, contour mining is utilized in more than one location on the same mountain.