Sardinian Coal and the Italian Navy

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbosulcis_coal_mine

I stumbled across this. Apparently there is a lot of coal under Sardinia . My knowledge of coal mining and Sardinia is minimal . We're the Italians unaware of this vast reserve ? Or was it inaccessible with 1930/40s technology.

Italy and its Navy were famously short of fuel .is there any way this reserve could have been exploited before and during WW2 and if so what difference would it have made?
 
Not sure coal helps the Italian fleet as by WW2 it like most modern navies, ran on diesel. However if memory serves Italy was a net importer of coal so having a local source couldn't hurt.
 
The area was mined quite intensively back then - see here for some data (Italians, but numbers speak for themselves). At any rate, I think that particular vast reserve was not reachable yet back then.
 
Top