For centuries now coal has been man’s main source of heat  and energy.  However, coal suffered a huge decline in the industrial age, when the oil industry took over and the world opted for liquid fuels.  Adding to this decline was the fact that gaseous fuels, initially the by-product of oil, also grew in importance.  The substitute for coal became oil, and it defeated coal in most of its traditional markets.  Oil not only dominated the world’s transport scene, but it also came to have widespread use in domestic and industrial heating and for power generation.  In short, in many countries, oil became the prime source of energy

On a global basis, oil and gas are still the most widely-used fuels.   However, since the oil price explosions of the 1970s, coal was restored as the dominant fuel for power stations and cement works.  Coal has steadily come back into favour.

Over 90% of greenhouse-gas emissions from coal (According to the World Coal Institute) take place during combustion.  As a result, modern interventions, such as clean- coal technologies, are being developed.  In some cases, clean-coal technologies have already been implemented in the effort to mitigate the environmental consequences of coal combustion.

South Africa’s remaining coal reserves are generally of a lower quality, with higher ash content, than the coal that has been mined over the past three decades. Clean-coal technologies have the potential to optimise this coal and the large quantities of discard coal for economic and energy purposes through beneficiation.

South Africa produces well over  255 million tonnes of coal annually and uses approximately three quarters of that locally. Roughly 77% of South Africa’s energy requirements are derived from coal and 92% of coal consumed on the African continent is produced here in South Africa.

The use of coal in South Africa dates back to the iron-age (300-1880 AD), when charcoal was used to melt iron and copper.  Coal is South Africa’s third largest source of foreign exchange; platinum being the largest and gold second.

Almost half of the world’s additional energy demand over the past ten years was provided by coal. All other fuels combined, including oil, natural gas, renewables and nuclear energy, accounted for the other half.  In fact, every year over the last decade coal has been the world’s fastest growing energy source, driven by Asian demand and regional abundance of the fuel.

Coal is arguably the most important fuel in the global energy mix and certainly the second largest fuel in terms of energy consumption. It accounts for almost a third of the world’s primary energy consumption. Power generation is the key driver of growing coal demand,
followed by industry and transformation processes such as blast furnaces and coke ovens.