Occurrence of some valuable elements in the unique 'high-aluminium coals' from the Jungar coalfield, China

摘要

In China, a unique type of coal with extremely high aluminium (Al) content commonly occurs in the southern region of the Yinshan Oldland, Jungar Basin. The typical Al2O3 content in the coal ash is similar to 45%, and exceeds 60% in some cases. This type of coal forms a league of its own and is named as 'high-Al coal'. This high-Al coal, not only contains unusually high level of Al but also has high concentrations of Li, Ga, and REY (REE + Y). All these elements (i.e. Al, Li, Ga, REY) with high concentrations in this type of coal are very valuable source to various industries and therefor make perfect economic sense and add extra benefits into coal mines if they can be recovered by beneficiation processes.