read this...
Lignite, often referred to as brown coal, or Rosebud coal by Northern Pacific Railroad, is a soft brown fuel with characteristics that put it somewhere between coal and peat. It is considered the lowest rank of coal; it is mined in Germany, Russia, the United States, India, Australia and many European countries, and it is used almost exclusively as a fuel for steam-electric power generation. Up to 50% of Greece's electricity and 24.6%[1] of Germany's comes from lignite power plants. The Latrobe Valley in the state of Victoria, Australia contains estimated reserves of some 200,000 million tonnes (Mt) of brown coal. The deposit is equivalent to 25% of known world reserves. The coal seams are generally of considerable thickness (to 300 metres) and are covered by very little overburden (2 to 5 metres).[2]
Lignite - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
