BobCousins,

The costs were labor costs rather than energy recovered being less than energy expended. If the general standard of living is reduced enough a whole lot more can be recovered.
Is the British way of life as non-negotiable as the American, or do you intend to have east european surfs as suggested above?

With coal the transition from good to bad economics can be instant - though predictable. Coal is 'easy' until you reach a fault line, then there is a step change in ROI. AFAIK, there is a lot of faulted UK coal fields left, sub North sea etc. The days of easy open cast or drift mines are long gone

Clearly an issue. The shape of resource peaks of any type depend on how price for the commodity rises. If price starts to rise exponentially this will extend the time to peak.