A variety of equipment is being used for roadheading and tunneling in the mining industry. In United States drum-type continuous miners are used most extensively. In Europe and Canada mine roadways are driven mainly by roadheaders. The application of tunnel boring machines to coal mining is somewhat recent. Such machines are however being used on major projects driving main mine entries. During the last ten years the technology of rapid drivage in coal mines has come a long way. This paper reviews the recent developments in roadheading equipment and techniques. Reference has been made to Canadian initiatives regarding the application of water jet assisted cutting, development of a full-face rock tunneling machine, an erector-transporter and trials with an Eickhoff ESA-60 face opening machine and polycrystalline diamond tipped picks.