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Glossary Of Technical Terms: Bituminous Coal
Soft coal containing large amounts of carbon, often with well-defined bands of bright and dull material, used primarily as fuel in steam-electric power generation, with substantial quantities also used for heat and power applications in manufacturing and to make coke. Its moisture content usually is less than 20%. It is used for generating electricity, making coke and space heating.
Blasting
The process of loosening in-situ waste material by use of explosives in the mine.
Blending
The process of mixing coals of different quality to obtain one desired coal quality.
British Thermal Unit or Btu
A measure of the thermal energy required to raise the temperature of one pound of pure liquid water one degree Fahrenheit at the temperature at which water has its greatest density (39 degrees Fahrenheit).
Calorific Value or CV
A coal sample’s energy content measured as the heat released on complete combustion in air or oxygen, usually expressed in kilo calorie per kilogram or kcal/kg.
Coal
A readily combustible black or brownish-black rock whose composition, including inherent moisture, consists of more than 50% by weight and more than 70% by volume of carbonaceous material. It is formed from plant remains that have been compacted, hardened, chemically altered and metamorphosed by heat and pressure over geologic time.
Dry (Coal) Basis
Coal quality data calculated to a theoretical basis in which no moisture is associated with the sample.
FOB
Free on Board.
Indicated Resources
Refers to that part of the coal deposit for which quality and quantity can be estimated with a reasonable level of confidence, as defined in the JORC Code. Indicated Resources have a lower level of geological confidence than that applying to Measured Resources.
JORC Code
The Australian Code for Reporting of Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves, prepared by the Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC) which sets out the minimum standards, recommendations and guidelines for public reporting of exploration results, mineral resources and ore reserves in Australia.
Marketable Reserves
An estimate of the quantity of coal that could be profitably sold under the expected market conditions.
Measured Resources
Refers to that part of the coal deposit for which quality and quantity can be estimated with a high level of confidence, as defined in the JORC Code.
Overburden
Any material, consolidated or unconsolidated, that overlies a coal deposit.
Open Cut Mining
A form of mining designed to extract minerals that lie near the surface. Waste or overburden is removed to expose the minerals for mining. Rock covering the minerals is blasted and removed by large draglines or electric shovels and trucks. Probable Reserves
Similar to proved reserves, but with lower level of confidence, as the number of intersections of the coal seams by pits trenches and boreholes in the sampling is less than that conducted in arriving at the proved reserves (as defined in the JORC Code).
Proved Reserves
Per the JORC Code, the economically mineable part of an indicated, and in some circumstances, measured mineral resource. It includes diluting materials and allowances for losses which may occur when the material is mined. Appropriate assessments, which may include feasibility studies, have been carried out and include consideration of and modification by realistically assumed mining, metallurgical, economic, marketing, legal, environmental, social and governmental factors. These assessments demonstrate at the time of reporting that extraction could reasonably be justified.
Reserve
Coal which size, form, distribution, quantity and quality are known and which is mineable considering the economic, technical, legal and environmental aspects at the time of measurement.
Resources
Naturally occurring concentrations or deposits of coal in the Earth’s crust, in such forms and amounts that economic extraction is currently or potentially feasible.
Run of Mine or ROM
Usually the typical quality of coal that is extracted, prior to any act of beneficiation such as washing, crushing or screening. The term is used loosely and can be applied on a pit by pit basis and is typically also used to refer to the processing and raw stockpile areas – the ROM area.
Seam
A bed of coal lying between a roof and floor. Equivalent term to bed, commonly used by industry.
Strip or Stripping Ratio
The amount of overburden that must be removed to gain access to a unit amount of coal.
Sub-Bituminous Coal
A Dull black coal that ranks between lignite and bituminous coal with moisture content between 20% and 30% by weight and heat content ranging from 7,800 to 9,500 Btu per pound of coal.
Sulphur
One of the elements present in varying qualities in coal that contributes to environmental degradation when coal is burned.
Tonnes
Means metric tonne or 1,000 kilogram. Volatile Matter
Those products, exclusive of moisture, given off by a material as gas or vapour. |
Glossary 
