Can anthracite come in from the cold?
Anthracite boasts the highest calorific value of any type of coal, and is one of the cleanest to burn. In the late 19th and first half of the 20th century it was a major commodity, mined in many countries throughout the world, until cheap gas, oilfired domestic heating systems and the expansion of domestic electricity gradually marginalised it in western, developed markets. Today the “developing” economies – especially China – still mine substantial quantities for domestic heating use. But as a globally traded commodity, anthracite is a specialist product, answering niche demand in the steel industry (for sintering and pelletising of iron ore) for the production of electrodes and paste for the aluminium and ferroalloys industries, in cement production and in the production of soda ash….
