Quality of Coal From Different Mines or Regions

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TimV
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Post by TimV » Sat. Jul. 26, 2008 6:07 pm

Can anyone tell me if quality varies greatly from one mines coal to another?
In particular has anyone used coal from Jeddo mines in Hazleton Pa ?
I have used bagged nut coal from Blashack and was happy with it and another brand and only difference I could see was ones ash was whitish and the others was more of redish color and both seemed fine. There is a new seller of Jeddo coal neaby and was hoping for some info before I buy a large quanity of it. Thank you TimV
Figure now is better than latter but wish I had bought it early spring!!
But cheer up gas has come down 4 cents!! Wow!


 
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LsFarm
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Post by LsFarm » Sat. Jul. 26, 2008 7:39 pm

Hi Tim, this thread from the top of this page is all about your question: Coal Quality From Various Sources

The quick answer is yes there is a big difference in coal from different mines, regions and breakers..

In general fresh, deep mined coal is the best, but surface mined coal that is properly cleaned, and comes from a good coal vein is also very good..The big problem comes from coal that is reclaimed.. In the past, there was no market for small coal, everybody burned stove and nut size coal,, some Pea.. Buckwheat, rice and barley had almost zero market.. so this smaller coal, that was the natural byproduct of breaking and sizing coal, was stacked in huge piles around the breakers.. refuse piles or culm piles..

Well, now that there is a market for the smaller coal, these piles are being reclaimed, washed, sized and sold.. but the coal has sat in the sun, wind and rain for 50+ years, and some if not all the volitiles [the life] has baked out of the coal.. some of the coal just wil not burn.. so your ash has pieces of black, unburnt 'stuff' in it.. 'stuff' you paid for, by the pound or ton, and it doesn't burn..

I truck my coal from Pa all the way to Michigan,, so I buy only what I KNOW to be good coal.. I buy from breakers that sell only deep mined, fresh coal, and that has a fairly low ash content.. I like Superior, UAE, Calvin Lennigs, Summit. I stay far away from Reading, 'Mystery Coal' and other unknown sources. I've burnt Jeddo in the past and did not like the amount of unburnt and quantity of ash.. but I've also heard that Jeddo is selling better quality coal now.. But I won't risk it at 24 tons per 'experiment'.

Greg L.

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