Mining education, including ESL teaching had to undergo a sudden switch to the distance learning mode in spring 2020 due to COVID-19. The article analyses the challenges that most of teachers had to face and justifies the term "extreme learning" in connection with a sudden shift to a distance mode in higher education world-wide. The analytical data is provided to prove the point and as an effort to evaluate the effectiveness of extreme online learning. Current situation in Russian mining universities can be compared with the results of transition to emergency online format in the United States, UNM University. The necessity for further assessment is underlined in connection with the analysis of prerequisites, needs, and processes rather than the results. © 2020 The Authors, published by EDP Sciences.