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Given all the talk about phasing out coal, some people may be surprised that the Donkin coal mine may reopen.

However, Donkin has the potential to provide two types of coal – metallurgical and thermal - that are very important as we transition to clean energy.

Steel is mainly iron and carbon, and the carbon is derived from metallurgical coal, which typically contains more carbon, less ash and less moisture than thermal coal.

This is how most steel is made: metallurgical coal is heated to over 1,000 degrees Celsius in the absence of oxygen. Without oxygen, the coal does not burn. Instead, it begins to melt.

The coal is then quickly cooled in water or air to produce a hard, porous brick of carbon known as coke. The coke is fed into a blast furnace with iron ore and a handful of other ingredients to make molten iron, which is then mixed (alloyed) with other metals to make many types of steel.

About 770 kilograms of metallurgical coal makes 600 kilograms of coke, which in turn produces one tonne of steel using a basic oxygen furnace.

This is the process that produces about 74 per cent of the approximately 1.8 billion tonnes of steel the world produces each year. The balance comes mostly from recycling.

Steel is used in countless products, including in green technologies like electric vehicles, wind turbines and solar panels. For example, wind turbines are about 75 per cent steel, so the more wind turbines we build, the more metallurgical coal we will need.

Given metallurgical coal’s role in making steel, we will need it for decades to come, perhaps forever, especially since alternative methods of producing steel have limitations on the quantity or quality of steel they can produce, or have not been proven to be commercially viable, or are energy intensive.

Thermal coal is the term for coal used to generate electricity.

Despite all the talk about phasing out coal, its use in power generation grew six per cent in 2021, setting a new global record, and another record is expected to be set again in 2022, according to the International Energy Agency.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is expected to further increase the amount of thermal coal used worldwide this year as European countries wean themselves off Russian natural gas. A number of European countries have already indicated they will burn more coal this year.

Almost half of Nova Scotia’s power comes from thermal coal but the provincial government has a goal of phasing it out by 2030.

Coal is the world’s most affordable energy fuel and it is a reliable source of energy at a time when energy security is of great concern. Coal will continue to provide huge amounts of stable, relatively inexpensive power as we transition to cleaner energy. We need to heat homes, keep the lights on, refrigerate food and medicines, and keep factories running as renewable energy ramps up.

In a recent news article, the Czech Republic’s energy security commissioner put it this way: “We will need it until we find alternative sources. Until that time, even the greenest government will not phase out coal.” (https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/life/greenpage/war-shakes-europe-path-to-energy-independence-climate-goals-576335452.html).

Mining metallurgical and thermal coal at Donkin would create jobs for Nova Scotians and government revenues to help pay for programs like health and education.

It would also help provide essential materials the world needs as we transition to clean energy.

Sean Kirby is the executive director of the Mining Association of Nova Scotia.

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