The UK did that with coal, back in the 80's. The British Isles is basically just a coal seam sticking up out of the North Sea. You can pick coal up on the beaches, and scrape the earth away and there it is in opencast. Plus deep mining as well. In the 1980's the UK decided to close down its pits and buy coal, cheaper than producing our own, from the likes of Poland and even China (even shipping it 13,000 miles and it was still cheaper).
So we still have coal, we don't frack, so who knows what we may do with it in the future. It makes nice sculptures!
