Coal bursts are a serious dynamic hazard for underground coalmines, and they attract the extensive interest of studies from mining and geotechnical researchers worldwide. More recently, coal-burst incidents were reported in some Australian coalmines as a result of inadequate geological assessment of coal-burst hazards. The coal-burst process is closely associated with the accumulation of elastic energy and the rapid dissipation of kinetic energy. This paper introduces the essential geological conditions for energy accumulation, and the likely precursors for rapid energy dissipation leading to coal burst, which can be used by Australian coalmines to determine their coal-burst risk accordingly. Different energy forms and their transformations during the coal-burst process are introduced in detail in this paper. The dominant geological factors resulting in the accumulation of massive energy are analyzed, and the likely precursors associated with the instant release of elastic energy are discussed.Energies 2018, 11, 1816 2 of 10 diminish the damage of potential coal-burst accidents following the first recognized case of coal burst accident at a coalmine. However, the risk of coal burst is generally hard to recognize for coalmines with no history of coal burst. Particularly in Australian coalmines, coal-burst hazards are hard to recognize, as there is no pre-assessment process or real-time monitoring apparatus of coal-burst risk.Energy concepts associated with coal bursts are a hotspot of coal-burst research. Based on the mechanical behavior of coal subject to uniaxial compression stress, Bieniawsk et al. found that coal bursts only happen when a large amount of elastic energy is stored in the body of coal [15]. Many researchers carried out detailed research on the energy dissipation forms of coal bursts, and proposed various coal-burst monitoring and early-warning methods, such as electromagnetic radiation [16], acoustic emission [17], and microseismic techniques [18][19][20]. L.M. Dou believes that the key to mitigating coal bursts is a decrease in the elastic energy stored in the coal or surrounding rock of the mining area [21]. In other words, coal bursts only happen when massive elastic energy stored in the coal is instantaneously released. This paper aims to introduce the essential geological conditions for energy accumulation, and the likely precursors for rapid energy dissipation in coalmines, which can assist Australian coalmines in determining their coal-burst risk accordingly. To achieve this aim, various energy forms and energy balances featured during coal bursts are introduced in detail. Then, the dominant geological factors resulting in the accumulation of massive energy are analyzed. Furthermore, the likely precursors associated with the instant release of elastic energy are discussed.