Can geosequestration save the coal industry?

There is archaeological evidence that coal was used in the Bronze Age, 3,000-4,000 years ago, in ancient China and in Roman Britain. But over the millennia, while human and animal labour and wood burning were the principal energy sources, coal played a minor role. In the pre-industrial age, reflected in the novels of Thomas Hardy and the paintings of the Old Masters, energy supply was local and distributed over land and waterways.