Coalpail.com Forum

Hey guys Been looking for a place that’s closer to home for me to get my coal. I came across this place called Cumberland valley coal in Carlise pa. They sell their bit for $219 a ton. Seems expensive but the upside is it’s not a 2.5 hour drive one way for me. They said the coal is a hard bituminous and is from the mallard mine in north western pa. Anyone have input on this for a hand fired application.

Turns out they were trying to market red ash anthracite as a “harder bit”

Jgib4 wrote: ↑

Thu. Jun. 28, 2018 11:40 am

Turns out they were trying to market red ash anthracite as a “harder bit”

That's an odd way to try and market it.

lsayre wrote: ↑

Thu. Jun. 28, 2018 12:18 pm

That's an odd way to try and market it.

Lol slightly

Yah, I don't know how you could trust a supplier that will try to sell Anthracite as Bit. That's coal "101".

-Don

StokerDon wrote: ↑

Thu. Jun. 28, 2018 7:59 pm

Yah, I don't know how you could trust a supplier that will try to sell Anthracite as Bit. That's coal "101".

-Don

Well be careful though because semi-bituminous is a real thing Don. The Broad Top area coal fields are just Northeast of me 10 miles or so and are classified as such. Seems to have more bituminous properties than it does anthracite. It was used commonly for iron making at the turn of the century and so on but has poor coking properties.

There was a very large furnace located at Riddlesburg and There are still a number of beehive coke ovens remaining from those days but better coking coal was found in Cambria County... my great grandfather trucked it from those mines to the Riddlesburg ovens in the 1930s and 1940s.

There are several strip mining operations being conducted today around Woodvale and Robertsdale for steam coal use.

Cumberland does advertise for coke. Sometimes we get ahead of ourselves. Good post Tyler.

Yah really, until now, I had never heard of "semi-bituminous".

Very interesting.

-Don

Here is a little more information on the Broad Top fields near me. Although it does not state the prevalence of the semi-bituminous property, that statement can be found elsewhere in other articles online and I have several coal geology books here describing it as such .

http://www.coalcampusa.com/westpa/broadtop/broadtop.htm

Is it possible that it is semi-anthracite, which is somewhat lower in quality than anthracite? I don't believe there is anything called semi-bituminous. Rather I believe that there is a classification called sub-bituminous. Lower in quality than bituminous.

I don’t know about semi-anthracite Larry, all I can tell you it is known to us in the industry as semi-bituminous. Geographically speaking it is roughly 30 miles from the bituminous fields West of me and likely over 100 miles away from the Southernmost anthracite fields, putting it much closer to the soft coal region.

I have several books here in my possession that were published on the history of coal mining in PA and they all refer to the Broad-Top fields as semi-bituminous. It is rarely mentioned in the industry magazines that come to the shop but it is always called semi-bituminous. There have been several loads through our yard here in the recent past and we have burnt it in our hand feds. It burns with more characteristics of soft coal and really nothing at all like hard coal.

I’ve grown up around the industry my whole life, lived right beside it and have never heard it referred to anything other than semi-bituminous.

CoalJockey wrote: ↑

Sat. Jun. 30, 2018 12:06 pm

I don’t know about semi-anthracite Larry, all I can tell you it is known to us in the industry as semi-bituminous. Geographically speaking it is roughly 30 miles from the bituminous fields West of me and likely over 100 miles away from the Southernmost anthracite fields, putting it much closer to the soft coal region.

I have several books here in my possession that were published on the history of coal mining in PA and they all refer to the Broad-Top fields as semi-bituminous. It is rarely mentioned in the industry magazines that come to the shop but it is always called semi-bituminous. There have been several loads through our yard here in the recent past and we have burnt it in our hand feds. It burns with more characteristics of soft coal and really nothing at all like hard coal.

I’ve grown up around the industry my whole life, lived right beside it and have never heard it referred to anything other than semi-bituminous.

How would semi bit do
In a hand fired furnace? The stuff he is selling is just red ash anthracite. I’m willing to give different bits a shot. And again thanks for the chat the other day. Looking forward to meeting
You.

"Semi" implies lesser or incomplete. Semi-bit would properly be something expected to be falling in-between bituminous and lignite. Not falling in-between anthracite and bituminous.

Jgib4 wrote: ↑

Sun. Jul. 01, 2018 10:47 pm

How would semi bit do
In a hand fired furnace? The stuff he is selling is just red ash anthracite. I’m willing to give different bits a shot. And again thanks for the chat the other day. Looking forward to meeting
You.

It’s not really a viable option at this time, the only coal that is currently coming off the strip operations at Broad Top is for steam use and not so much house coal. Generally speaking it can be used for house coal but the trouble with the Broad Top seams is mining it and keeping it clean. The coal seams themselves stand up nearly on edge, thus making it very difficult to keep it separated from the rock. There are certain seams that will do well for house coal but the supply is likely not consistent and would vary from one load to the next.

With bituminous coal it’s sometimes hard to have your cake and eat it too. Obviously we want the highest BTUs but it’s hard to get that at times without a whole lot of gas too. Run of mine is awesome for the price, it’s all that the old timers ever used but it needs to be free of rock. Once you start into coal that has been cleaned, sized, and prepared then you are talking more $$$ and getting closer to anthracite prices. You get the drift...

lsayre wrote: ↑

Mon. Jul. 02, 2018 10:34 am

"Semi" implies lesser or incomplete. Semi-bit would properly be something expected to be falling in-between bituminous and lignite. Not falling in-between anthracite and bituminous.

That’s a good way of thinking about it.