Energy resources consume around 70% of coal in India. India is still dependent on thermal power which accounts for almost 60% of electricity production in India, with hydroelectricity(15%) a distant second. Iron and steel plants consume only 7% of coal in India. After electrification of railways lines, their consumption of coal is highly reduced.

Coal has many important uses worldwide. The most significant uses of coal are in electricity generation, steel production, cement manufacturing and as a liquid fuel. Different types of coal have different uses.

Depending on the amount of carbon, moisture and volatile matter, coal can be classified into the following varieties:

 Lignite is a low grade brown coal, which is soft with high moisture content. The principal lignite reserves are in Neyveli in Tamil Nadu and are used for generation of electricity.

Despite of having the fifth largest coal reserves in the world, India is a major importer of coal because of its over dependence on thermal power generation and to feed its steel plants. In India, most of the coal mines are concentrated in eastern and south-central India, i.e. areas around Chota Nagpur plateau which includes states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and West Bengal. 

Coal is called black gold because it is black in colour and it is costly too. It is used in wide range of industrial applications and creates a positive impact on the economic development of the country. Thus it's value is compared with that of Gold.

• Lignite is a low grade brown coal, which is soft with high moisture content.
• Bituminous coal is the most popular coal in commercial use. 
  
• Anthracite is the highest quality hard coal.
  
• Magnetite is the finest iron ore with a very high content of iron up to 70 per cent. 
  

• Coal and petroleum are formed from remains of dead vegetation and marine organisms.
  
• These are carbonaceous fuels. These are extracted from earth and are formed by fossil decomposition and are hence called fossil fuels. These fuels form major source of energy.
  

Jharia is famous for its rich coal resources, used to make coke. The coal field lies in the Damodar River Valley and covers about 110 square miles (280 square km) and produces bituminous coal suitable for coke. Most of India's coal comes from Jharia. Jharia coal mines are India's most important storehouse coke coal used in blast furnaces, it consists of 23 large underground and nine large open cast mines. 

Coal is itself a sedimentary rock formed when remains of plants such as peat undergo bacterial decay and followed by compaction due to sedimentation, as it undergoes this process it releases methane and becomes carbon rich and hard.

Damodar valley is called Ruhr of India because it has similar characteristics with that of Ruhr which is located in Germany. The characteristic is that Ruhr has immense coal resources. In the same way Damodar valley accounts for 6% of the coal reserves of India.

• Type of coal that is used commercially is bituminous coal.  Bituminous coal or black coal is a relatively soft coal containing a tar like substance called bitumen.
  
• This coal is graded based on plasticity, moisture content, volatility and ash content.
  
• Plasticity is essential for the production coke which is useful in making fuel gases like producer gas etc.
  
• Volatility is essential for steel making and power generation.
  

The most superior quality coal is anthracite. It has highest carbon content with 92.1% to 98% carbon. It ignites with difficulty and burns with smoke. China accounts for major production worldwide. It has fewest impurities and highest calorific value after graphite.

• Neyveli is located 62 kilometres (39 mi) inland from Bay of Bengal, west of Pondicherry and 197 kilometres (122 mi) south of Chennai. 
  
• The town was developed in 1956 after the establishment of Neyveli Lignite Corporation, a public sector enterprise.
  
• NLC India Limited is a government-owned lignite mining and power generating company in India.
  
• NLC operates the largest open-pit lignite mines in India.
  

• Raniganj power plant is located in the Barddhaman district of west Bengal. Discovery of coal led to industrialisation in this area. It is a pithead coal based thermal power plant.
  
• Coal mining in India first started in the Raniganj Coalfield. In 1774, John Sumner and Suetonius Grant Heatly of the British East India Company found coal.
  

Coal- formed of organic material deposited one layer above the other. Across millions of years, due to physical and chemical changes, oxygen was forced out and was left with carbon-rich deposits.

Fossil fuels are non-renewable sources of energy, that means they take millions of year to form fossil fuel, so we need to conserve them. Coal, petroleum and natural gas are the conventional sources of thermal power in India. They all are an example of fossil fuel. A large number of fossil fuels are burnt every day in power stations to heat water to produce steam which further runs the turbine to generate electricity. The term thermal power plant is used since fuel is burnt to produce heat energy which is converted into electrical energy. 

Anthracite is the best quality of coal with least ash content. Anthracite is a hard, compact variety of mineral coal that has a high luster. It has the highest carbon count and contains the fewest impurities of all coals, and has the highest calorific content as compared to other types of coals such as bituminous coal and lignite.

In the Panadhro village, in the district of Kutchchh is the Power Station, which utilises lignite type of coal. Lignite is a brown colour coal. Panadhro village has coal mines, which directly supplies coal to the power station. At present the power station has four units. 

Haematite is a reddish-black mineral and an important ore of iron. It has a high iron content of 70 percent. It can be found in areas of volcanic activity or hot springs. Much hematite occurs in a soft, fine-grained, earthy form called red ochre.

Coal is an inflammable organic substance, composed mainly of hydrocarbons, found in the form of sedimentary rocks and capable of being used as fuel to supply heat or light or both. It is formed when sub merged vegetation remains under great pressure for a considerably long time. 

Bituminous coal or black coal and Lignite coal are relatively soft. Bituminous is a higher quality than lignite coal but of poorer quality than anthracite.

Anthracite is a best quality coal. Its carbon content is 90% to 95%. Its burns slowly and great heat, with very little smoke.

Lignite is a lower grade coal and contains about 40% to 60% carbon. It has low heating power and emits smoke. Its colour varies from dark to black brown. 

Peat is the first stage of transformation of wood into coal and contains 30% to 45% carbon, sufficient volatile matter and lot of moisture. Its heating capacity is low and normally used as domestic fuel. 

Peat is the first stage of transformation of wood into coal and contains less than 40% to 55% carbon, sufficient volatile matter and lot of moisture. Its heating capacity is low and generally used as domestic fuel.

Lignite is a lower grade coal and contains about 40 to 55% carbon. It has low heating power and emits smoke. Its colour varies from dark to black brown.  

The yellow colour flame is seen when bituminous coal is burnt due to incandescence of very fine soot particles that are produced in the flame. This type of flame only burns at around 1,000 °C. Depending on the lighting, you may have actually seen the soot rising from the flame.

Anthracite is the best quality coal. It burns slowly and generates great heat, with very little smoke. Its carbon content is 80 to 95%. Only 5% of the world's coal is of this type.

Bituminous coal contains moisture up to approximately 17 percent. About 0.5 to 2 percent of the weight of bituminous coal is nitrogen. Its fixed carbon content ranges up to approximately 85 percent, with ash content up to 12 percent by weight.

When the Lignite is burnt the flame is in brownish color. Lignite is a low grade brown coal, which is soft with high moisture content.

Caol is known as "Black Diamond". This is a fossil fuel which was formed millions of years ago when giant fern and swamps got buried under the layers of the earth. Coal is therefore referred to as "Buried sunshine". Electricity from coal is called "Thermal Power".

Anthracite also is the most brittle among coal types. When burned, it produces a very hot, blue flame.

Lignite is a low grade brown coal, which is soft with high moisture content. The principal lignite reserves are in Neyveli in Tamil Nadu and are used for generation of electricity. 

In India first coal mine began in 1774 with John Sumner and Suetonius Grant Heatly of the East India Company in the Raniganj Coalfield along the Western bank of Damodar river.

Raniganj coal mining is the birthplace of the coal mining in the country. It was started in 1774. The raniganj coalfield also contains large reserves of iron ore. 

Palana is a village in the district of Bikaner and is famous for mining of lignite in that area. Rajasthan is a prosperous state not only in minerals but recently oil has also been found. One can get copper, marble, gypsum and even gold in many areas of Rajasthan.

Raniganj Coalfield is primarily located in the Asansol and Durgapur subdivisions of the Paschim Bardhaman district of West Bengal.

Anthracite: The highest rank of coal. It is a hard, brittle, and black lustrous coal, often referred to as hard coal, containing a high percentage of fixed carbon and a low percentage of volatile matter.

• Musabani also spelled as Mosabani or Mushabani, it is a census town in Purbi Singhbhum district in the Indian state of Jharkhand. It is famous for its copper mines.
• Raniganj Coalfield is primarily located in the Asansol and Durgapur subdivisions of the Paschim Bardhaman district of West Bengal.
• Jharia Coalfield is a large coal field located in the east of India in Jharia, Jharkhand.
• Korba Coalfield is located in Korba district in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh in the basin of the Hasdeo River, a tributary of the Mahanadi.