Steelmaking Coal

Steelmaking coal loaded at Neptune is destined for steel mills around the world in countries including Korea, Japan, China, Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic. Canada is one of the world’s leading overseas exporters of steelmaking coal, second only to Australia.

To make steel, steelmaking coal is first brought to a high temperature in an oxygen-less oven that drives off its impurities and produces coke, a pure form of carbon. The coke is then combined with iron ore and other ingredients in a blast furnace to produce steel. Click here to see a graphic explaining the process in more detail.

Steel – and the coal used in the production of steel – is used to make many of the things we rely on each day including cell phones, bicycles and kitchen appliances. Steel also plays a critical role in green energy production: wind turbines, solar panels, tidal power systems and bio-energy infrastructure all require steel. For example, 100 tonnes of steelmaking coal is required to produce the 185 tonnes of steel used in a typical wind turbine.

Yes, steel is also one of the most recycled materials.

No, all the coal at Neptune is Canadian steelmaking coal.

Our priority is ensuring the materials we handle stay on our terminal, and do not cause any nuisance in our surrounding community. The best way to treat coal in order to prevent dust is with water, and we use a number of systems to do that including spray poles, yard sprays, water cannons and wheel washes. For more information about dust prevention and air quality monitoring, visit our environment page or our environmental systems for products page.

Coal trains are moved through the dumper building - where they are unloaded - using an electric indexer that helps us reduce carbon emissions associated with diesel locomotives. Once unloaded from the trains, the coal is loaded onto the stockpile or directly onto conveyor belts for shiploading using two large machines called stacker reclaimers. Neptune’s newest stacker reclaimer, installed in 2013, was built on Vancouver Island. Our original stacker reclaimer, which is more than 50 years old, will soon be replaced by another one manufactured on Vancouver Island.