Time Will Tell
66151 waits at Cwmbargoed for the 6C94 14:00 departure to Margam with around 1500 tonnes of bituminous coal that will be used at Port Talbot steel works. An interesting point: The steel industry heavily depends on coal to fuel its energy intensive processes. To put this in context, for every 1¼ tonnes of steel produced, one tonne of coal is required. Such is the demand, in 2019 alone, the UK and European steel-making industry imported some 52 million tonnes of seaborne metallurgical coal from the United States of America, Australia, Russia and Columbia. There is currently no substitute for coal in steel making - electric fired blast furnaces can only be used to recycle steel. Demand for coal in UK is between 5 – 6 million tonnes per annum to supply a range of essential industries, including steel and cement manufacturing.
Future coal mining applications are set to be rejected as a matter of policy for the first time in Wales, in pursuit of cleaner energy. Operations at Cwmbargoed are scheduled to stop in 2022 so one wonders what will happen to the operation in light of this policy.
Time Will Tell
66151 waits at Cwmbargoed for the 6C94 14:00 departure to Margam with around 1500 tonnes of bituminous coal that will be used at Port Talbot steel works. An interesting point: The steel industry heavily depends on coal to fuel its energy intensive processes. To put this in context, for every 1¼ tonnes of steel produced, one tonne of coal is required. Such is the demand, in 2019 alone, the UK and European steel-making industry imported some 52 million tonnes of seaborne metallurgical coal from the United States of America, Australia, Russia and Columbia. There is currently no substitute for coal in steel making - electric fired blast furnaces can only be used to recycle steel. Demand for coal in UK is between 5 – 6 million tonnes per annum to supply a range of essential industries, including steel and cement manufacturing.
Future coal mining applications are set to be rejected as a matter of policy for the first time in Wales, in pursuit of cleaner energy. Operations at Cwmbargoed are scheduled to stop in 2022 so one wonders what will happen to the operation in light of this policy.