Welsh Steam Coal

Recalling distant memory, some later research from that previously posted indicated that a 'Welsh Steam Coal' had to have a good bituminous content to be any use for our purposes. Something in the order of 14% comes to mind.

 

Current supplies of dry Welsh steam coal are from Ffos-y-fran opencast mine at Cwmbargoard near Merthyr Tydfil, this is being worked by Coal4Energy and started production a year or two ago. I understand it is part of a large land reclamation scheme and is set to work for the next 10 years.

I understand the technical details for the Ffos-y-fran coal is:

Ash 5 - 8%
Sulphur <1.5%
Volatiles 11-15%
Calorific value 50GJ/tonne

 

The coal from Fros-Y-Fran is being quarried, not mined. It's called opencast mining, but in reality, its a coal quarry. I will respectfully suggest that the coal that comes from the opencast is not deep seam coal, but is easily won coal, which is normally 'mixed' as it is being drawn off several 'faces' or seams, at the same time. The Welsh coalfield outcrops at the Heads of the Valley road (A465), and there is some magnificent sights to see, as perhaps 15-18 seams of coal come thro' all within the space of 150 feet. When Blaenavon was being opencasted in the 90's, we had a tour around the site, and they were cutting around 12 seams at once.


Coal quality varies enormously between seams, even in the same district. Coal on one seam will be 'dry', and the next seam, just 12-15 feet below, will have differing qualities. What happens when you are quarrying, as at Fros-Y-Fran, is that one or more seams are mixed up.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
Ian

 

It is good how this thread, which did not seem very promising at one time, has ended up being one of the most usefully informative I can recall.

P.H.