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Metallurgical coal or coking coal [1] is a grade of coal that can be used to produce good-quality coke. Coke is an essential fuel and reactant in the blast furnace process for primary steelmaking . [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] The demand for metallurgical coal is highly coupled to the demand for steel.
At the time, coal was selling for about a quarter of the price of natural gas ($1.5 versus $5.0 per million BTU); however, the ratio has since become much smaller (as of 2010, coal has tripled in price to $4.63/mil BTU while gas is still at $5.189). [4] [6] (Natural gas is used as an alternative to thermal coal in electricity production.)
In November 2018, Contura merged with Alpha Natural Resources to become America's biggest supplier of metallurgical coal. [4] Even though the combination let Alpha Natural Resources emerge from bankruptcy, the first year was a difficult one; lower coal prices, and higher production costs at mines where it makes the type of coal burned at power plants.
In 2015, because of a "glut of both thermal and metallurgical coal", the global price of coal was low. [18]: 11 In 2016, there was a dramatic increase in the price of metallurgical coal to over US$300/tonne. [19]: 3 This was the first time the price of coal had reached this peak since 2011. Investors showed renewed interest in the bituminous ...
The History of coal mining goes back thousands of years, with early mines documented in ancient China, the Roman Empire and other early historical economies. It became important in the Industrial Revolution of the 19th and 20th centuries, when it was primarily used to power steam engines, heat buildings and generate electricity.
Total US coal production, 1870–2018 Historical coal production of different countries. Coal mining is an industry in transition in the United States. Production in 2019 was down 40% from the peak production of 1,171.8 million short tons (1,063 million metric tons) in 2008. Employment of 43,000 coal miners is down from a peak of 883,000 in ...
In 2019-20 Australia exported 390 Mt of coal (177 Mt metallurgical coal and 213 Mt thermal coal) and was the world's largest exporter of metallurgical coal and second largest exporter of thermal coal. [3] While only employing 50,000 mining jobs nationally coal provides a rich revenue stream for governments. [4]
Bituminous coal suitable for smelting iron (coking coal or metallurgical coal) must be low in sulfur and phosphorus. It commands a higher price than other grades of bituminous coal (thermal coal) used for heating and power generation.