Coals of Canada: Distribution and compositional characteristics

Abstract

Canada's coal resources occur in 16 sedimentary basins or groups of basins and range in age from Devonian to Tertiary. The Western Canada Sedimentary Basin (WCSB), which contains the vast majority (about 90%) of the nation's coal resources of immediate interest, underlies a large area in the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, extending northward to about the 62nd Parallel in Yukon and Northwest Territories. Coal deposits in the WCSB range in age from Early Carboniferous (Mississippian) to Paleocene. Rank ranges from lignite to semianthracite. About 36% of the total estimated 71,000 megatonnes of resources of immediate interest in the WCSB is bituminous coal, including a high proportion in the medium to low volatile range. Their low sulphur contents and acceptable ash levels make these medium and low volatile bituminous coals attractive 3s coking feedstocks and large quantities are mined for that purpose. The lower rank western Canadian coals are used mainly for electricity generation. Significant resources of bituminous coal occur in the coalfields of Atlantic Canada where they have been mined since 1720. Most of these coals are classed as high volatile A bituminous and most are used for power generation. Large resources of coal (lignite to anthracite) also occur in more remote regions of Canada, such as the Bowser Basin in northwestern British Columbia, and Sverdrup Basin/ Franklinian Geosyncline in the Arctic Islands. Information on distribution and compositional attributes of these frontier region coals is commonly scarce.