Developments in Coal in 1989

Abstract

In 1989, 5424 United States mines in 26 states produced a record 981.8 million tons of coal, an increase of 3.4% from a revised 949.7 million tons produced in 1988. Of this coal, the Eastern coal province produced 47.1%, the western coal provinces (Northern Great Plains, Rocky Mountain, Pacific Coast, and Alaska) produced 32.5%, the Interior coal province produced 14.6%, and the Gulf coal province produced 5.8%. This production distribution is almost identical to that of 1988. Wyoming produced 171.1 million tons of coal from 2 coal provinces, leading the United States for the second consecutive year. Kentucky again ranked a close second with 170.5 million tons of coal from 2 coal provinces. West Virginia again was third with 151.83 million tons, Pennsylvania again was fourth with 71.8 million tons, and Illinois again was fifth with 60.4 million tons. These 5 states produced 63.7% of United States coal production in 1989 compared to 63.4% in 1988. In rank, the total U.S. coal production was 0.3% anthracite, 69% bituminous, 21.7% subbituminous, and 9% lignite. By age, 62% was Pennsylvanian, 30% was Tertiary, and 8% was Cretaceous. The percentage distribution of the production by age is unchanged from 1988. Bituminous coal's share of the production in 1989 increased 3.7% from 1988 at the expense of subbituminous, due to significantly increased production in eastern Kentucky, West Virginia, and Indiana. Lignite production for montan wax extraction has been taking place on a small scale for many years at 1 mine in the Ione field in California and is included for the first time in this report. In Canada in 1989, 29 mines produced 70.51 million MT of coal, a decrease of 0.2% from 1988. The 3 western provinces (Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan) accounted for 94.3% of Canada's coal production in 1989, a 0.1% decrease from a revised 94.4% in 1988. By rank, 55% was bituminous, 29.7% subbituminous, and 15.3% lignite.