Old King Coal can no longer be such ‘a merry old soul’ as coal mining companies exit the thermal variety of this fossil fuel in response to the demands of shareholders, top-tier global investor lobbyists and regulators. Anglo American, Rio Tinto, BHP and South32 are promoting themselves as mining companies that are delinking themselves from coal. The hard reality is that the price of new solar generation is below the price of new coal production in most major markets and the investment world does not want to be saddled with potential future action against carbon-producing laggards who ignore the potential havoc an overcarbonised world can wreak on human health and happiness. Meanwhile, it will be galling to have to dispose of viable coal mining companies at a discount, especially since the long-term coal price will be buoyed by the necessity to keep burning it the world over.