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Coal is classified from a commercial perspective as thermal coal and metallurgical coal. Thermal coal is mainly used for base load electricity production and in the cement industry. Metallurgical coal is used in the reduction of iron ore to produce steel. Both these types of coal are produced in the Tete area.

There is a major shift by western governments, especially in Europe and North America, to stop using thermal coal as a fuel for base-load power generation. The cement industry has also come under pressure to switch from coal to alternative fuels. It is much more difficult for the steel industry to stop the use of metallurgical coal. Currently there is no non-coal-based technology available that can economically produce sufficient quantities of steel to meet the global demand.

Despite the pressure from the western world to reduce the reliance of the world on coal, thermal coal still plays a significant role in power generation. At present thermal coal still accounts for 36.7 % of global power generation. At the COP26 meeting in Glasgow a significant change was made to the final pledge document signed by participating countries. The wording regarding the use of coal was changed from “phase out unabated coal power generation” to “phase down of unabated coal power generation”. This change in the wording indicates that thermal coal will still play a significant role in power generation in the future.