Hi an' awl. After Sen. Bob Brown made a small comment about the Australian coal/ enviro. problem; "Just stop mining coal in Australia and that will help the problem". I'm sure a few fat cats in the coal industry would have spontaneously vomited on their shoes. I did some research, also after reading about terra preta. There is a company in Australia, please google "ultimate fertilisers" They sell a product called carbon gold. 25% humate, made from Brown coal, pelletised and spreadable with a standard fertiliser spreader I have just placed an order for 4 tonne to apply to a 2 hectare/ 5 acre vineyard. They also do 15 kilogram bags. I also now of a chap that bought some brown coal directly from a mine in Morewell, Victoria to add to his vineyard, his O.C went from .2% to 1% over 2 years. I aim to have my O.C levels at about 5% in two years. Maybe the change of Government here and in emerica may see this as a useful addition to their Kyoto protocol dilemma.
Love the idea of chunder down under ina fat cats shoe Tezza Just chucking out the wood ash from fire,pot bellies, or stoves is all we need to do apparently
Billie, I did a bit of internet research on your fertiliser as the site you listed didnt really say what the fertiliser was. Ran across this site, very interesting. Also of interest it seems as though an american organisation has patented this in the name of 'leonardite' but the aussie stuff is better!! https://www.australianhumates.com/index2.asp?go=the_story.html floot
Carbon Gold It is pelletised brown coal. I guess they don't want to make it obvious because of the price of brown coal. With thousands of mines up and down the eastern seaboard of Aust. producing hundreds of thousands of tonnes anyone can roll in and grab a load. The price is around $70 a tonne from one source I talked to. That is cheap.
Not knocking the concept. I have heard of land being rehabilitated from salinity using coal dust, but I would consider radioactives in the equation. I don't know the figures but have heard that there is a lot of uranium and thorium fall out around coal-fired power stations. I realise that we are talking low volumes over a wider area so I am just asking questions not giving answers here. I guess that heaps of concentrate would be best kept away from and spreading time would be best in the wet while the family were away on holiday. Sorry no time to reference it. Flannery in his book, The Weather Makers suggests that we owe it to future generation to save all of our coal resources for the next ice age. It's a bit like oil though. On one level we know that we shouldn't be burning it but humanity seems so hell-bent on using it all up that we might as well use it for long-term bennefits to serve the common good. Earthworks, etc. Cheers, Jeff
