Seredin, et al., report that coal represents the oldest type (after wood) of hydrocarbon fuel used by people for energy production. Coal resources are significantly more abundant than oil and gas, and can meet world energy requirements for hundreds of years. Nevertheless, coal utilization for power generation has been steadily reduced in many countries because of its serious impact on the environment as a result of both coal mining and coal combustion in thermal power plants. On the other hand, humanity cannot completely deny the role of coal in the global energy matrix because of the low cost of coal energy, comparative abundance of coal resources, and a fairly uniform distribution of coal deposits on the surface of the planet. Coal will remain the dominant power fuel for many countries which have limited oil and gas resources, and consequently, may limit the extent to which humankind can reduce the overall C footprint and move towards a ‘‘greener’’ and more sustainable future. The governments and scientists of many countries have already tried to solve this issue by various methods.
Traditional methods to decrease the negative impacts of coal power on the environment include the introduction of modern methods of mining, upgrading and burning of solid fuel, as well as in the processing of coal into gaseous and liquid fuels. However, there is another way of softening the negative environmental impacts associated with coal power: extraction of some rare metals, from coal deposits and coal combustion wastes, that are necessary for ‘‘clean’’ energy, based on both alternative energy sources and energy-efficient technologies.
This paper summarizes the authors’ previous analyses and the wider literature on coal deposits containing high concentrations of Ge, Ga, Se, Li and REE + Y. All these rare metal(loid)s are crucial for clean energy development and are used in the production of solar cells, wind turbines, energy saving lighting and electric vehicles. The data were obtained mainly during a Russian–Chinese cooperative investigation into the distribution and origin of metalliferous coal deposits in both countries.
This paper also presents data on widespread abnormal accumulations in coal deposits of some rare metal(loid)s (Ge, Ga, Se, Li and REE + Y), which play a key role in energy-efficient technologies and alternative power development. It is shown that enrichment of these metal(loid)s may occur in coal seams in host- and basement-rocks of coal basins at comparable concentrations to those in conventional ores. Genesis of high concentrations of the rare metal(loid)s and their modes of occurrence in coal basins
are reviewed. Moreover, utilization prospects of these metal(loid)s as byproduct coal deposits are evaluated. The extraction of these metal(loid) resources during coal exploitation and utilization would not only increase beneficial use of coal deposits themselves but also promote humanity’s further movement on the ‘‘green road’’.
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