Inside Singleton’s Diggers club, Hunter Valley residents are debating the future of the world’s coal industry.

But as some countries signal a move away from coal, miners cap production and the industry remains almost permanently under the political spotlight, there is concern here that the mining industry in the Hunter is at the crossroads.

Those fears have come despite data from the Minerals Council of Australia (MCA) predicting demand for the region’s coal to increase in the next 20 years.

Holding the microphone inside the club is Carl Shoupe, a third-generation coal-miner from the United States town of Benham in Harlan County, Kentucky.

“In 2012, everything was going real good,” he told the crowd of community leaders.

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