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www.resourceworld.com
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and effectiveness of both methods. They will be looking at the
relative impacts on four types of coal from BC: three from south-
east BC and one from northeast BC. Birtley Coal and Minerals
Testing (a division of GWIL Industries Inc.) will conduct the
testing. The washed samples will be sent to Ottawa for follow-up
analyses at CanmetENERGY laboratories where the samples "will
be carbonized in a small coke oven and resultant coke properties
will be evaluated."
The Roben Jig process will be declared successful if it "pro-
vides equivalent or superior results to traditional coal washing
methods." Success would benefit the entire coal industry as it
would no longer be necessary to use harmful chemicals to clean
coal for coal and coke quality analysis.
The report states that, "Coal is BC's largest export commodity
and provincial 2016 estimates peg the value of BC's coal produc-
tion at $3.32 billion. Coal production currently represents over
half of the total mineral production revenues in the province.
Between 70% and 90% of coal produced in BC is metallurgical
coal [used to make steel]."
The CCRA is a not-for-profit agency that conducts research
on behalf of Canada's steel and metallurgical coal producers.
Geoscience BC is an independent, non-profit organization that
generates earth science information in collaboration with First
Nations, local communities, governments, academia and the
resource sector.
Final study results of the effectiveness of the Roben Jig process
compared to coal washing using the traditional float-and-sink
method will be available in the fall 2017 on Geoscience BC's web-
site www.geosciencebc.com.
n
A coal sample from southern British Columbia. Photo by Ellsworth
Dickson
