AbstractOver 95% of Canada’s known coal resources are found in the sedimentary basins of the Interior Platform and eastern Cordillera (Fig. 6B.1); a minor amount is found in the Moose River Basin of the Hudson Platform. This distribution is shown in Table 6B.1, which summarizes coal resources for all of Canada. Coal also occurs in the platforms and basins of western Northwest Territories, eastern and northern Yukon Territory and the Arctic Islands, but low exploration activity has limited calculation of regional resources. The coals range in rank from lignite to anthracite and in age from Early Carboniferous to Tertiary.An interesting pattern of resource distribution by rank is shown by Table 6B.1. A large proportion is subbit-uminous and lignite - valuable as fuels for power generation and possible future feedstocks for gasification and liquefaction. High-volatile bituminous coals constitute a relatively small percentage of total resources. On the other hand, Canada is well endowed with medium- and low-volatile bituminous coals, and these are of special interest to the metallurgical market. Of Canada’s total resources of immediate interest probably 25% are in the medium/low-volatile bituminous category, virtually all of which are in Alberta and British Columbia.Coal in western Canada has gone through periods of fluctuating fortunes paralleling the experience of the industry elsewhere in North America. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, production decreased markedly and many mines closed. In the late 1960s and the decade of the 70s, a resurgence in mining took place due to increased exports of