A Note on Difficult to Wash Coals from Southeast British Columbia (82G/7)

Some coal seams in southeast BC are characterized by fine size consist and a moderate amount of inherent ash. Mining strategies and wash plants are designed to handle these coals but sometimes seams are mined, that are unusually difficult to clean. Samples of a number of such coals were acquired and studied. Samples come from a mine and an adjacent property ( samples GC in tables) near Sparwood in southeast British Columbia. Two in-pit samples of coal were collected the mine from areas where the seam was known to wash easily and one sample from an area where it was known to be difficult to wash. A bulk sample of coal from a property near then mine was test washed at the mine wash plant and found to be difficult to wash and a sample of this coal was studied. Occasionally fine coal in the froth floatation circuits in the mine wash plant is difficult to wash. Raw, clean and reject samples of this material were collected. All samples were subjected to a range of chemical analyses, petrographic analysis and in some cases scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis.