Producing Clean Coal from Western Canadian Coalfields Using the Water-Based Roben Jig Process: Refining the Process

One of the main challenges after finding and identifying coal seams is evaluating the quality of the coal resource during the exploration stage. Understanding coal quality can be a complex process and is key to a sound economic evaluation of the resource. During the exploration phase of coal-mine development, evaluation of metallurgical-coal quality is often done using samples collected from drillcore. Although many coal seams outcrop, the bulk of the coal deposit is generally deep underground. Coal near the surface can be sampled using test pits or adits, but drilling is the method most often used to obtain representative coal-seam samples. During the feasibility stage of an exploration property, a bulk sample of more than a tonne is required for testing the coal in a pilot-scale coke oven to fully understand the coking potential of the coal. Sufficient sample can be obtained using several 6-inch drill-program cores, although this is costly, particularly for thinner seams.