Coal - Some Aspects of Mechanical Coal Cleaning in Utah

Coal preparation practice and trends follow, among other factors, production trends in any given area. Considering an area the size of a state, some broad predictions may be made after a review of the annual production records. As this paper is concerned with coal cleaning in Utah, data on its production record are pertinent. Table 1 shows the percentage relation of coal production in Utah to the national total as a single figure up to 1935 which includes all recorded production. From 1935 through 1947 these data are presented by years. It is evident from these data that the production of Utah coal is ascending. The reason for this trend is industrial growth in the West resulting in a population shift which accounts for more people than the normal increase would supply together with Utah's relatively fortunate geographical location and its abundance of good-quality coal. Utah is also hopeful of supplying more coal in the future for West Coast power generation.I Utah is not unique among coal-producing states in anticipating greater production in the future. Coal Age states, " . . . it is now evident that a billion-ton yearly production of anthracite and bituminous by 1960 is not impossible." At present it is about 610,000,000 tons, the all-time high in 1947 was approximately 687,803,000 tons. In view of the trend outlined above, obviously more new mines will be required to produce the necessary tonnage. These in turn will require more mechanical cleaning capacity. Whether the required new plants will be built by present operators of mines and mechanical cleaning plants or by others now in the business of producing coal or expecting to enter it is of no consequence in this discussion. The fact is— they will be built.