One important thing to remember is that you cannot burn coal in a stove designed only for wood burning. The reason is coal burns a lot hotter than wood, and this extra heat may seriously damage a wood stove. On the other hand, burning wood will not damage a coal stove, however, it may be less efficient for heating than using coal.

Less coal use and decline of US coal mining is well known. As is often the case when a part of the economy has setbacks, people look to the state or national government for solutions. But often this has not been very helpful. It is easy to see how coal producing regions have suffered. Places that used to be prosperous in this business in West Virginia, Illinois, Kentucky, Ohio and Pennsylvania - to mention a few - have almost been struck off the map. Whole towns and smaller cities are now mere relics of the past. Technology has not adapted much to advance cleaner and less polluting ways to mine and process coal. The future looks quite bleak for these places if some other kinds of mining and industry will not replace coal. As I see it, the federal government is unlikely to do much more to help these places, and indeed the question remains if helping out is really their job.

I wanted to cook on coal. I DIY-ed a small metal coal stove and I am not sure what type of coal to use. I will be cooking in mostly sealed containers, made of aluminium or steel, occasionally pressure cookers.

What type of coal would be best for this? Charcoal burns out too fast unfortunately. Read somewhere that anthracite is hard to ignite and releases a lot of fumes, which shouldn't affect containers.

I will not be using it for smoking or barbeque.

Thanks for your opinion!

Hi, I don't know if this is a stupid question but from AMR's latest Q3 earnings, they have realized pricing for their met at $154.73, but the fob premium coking coal chart (ACF1) never went below $225 for a very long time, so I wonder why the price was so low? Thank you

I have 3 big buckets of this coal and was going to put it on FB for free, but after looking at coal prices I thought maybe I'd better ask someone about it. I have maybe 60-70 pounds. I don't think it's good anthracite but maybe still has more value than I thought. Thanks