Physicochemical Properties and REE Distribution of the Northwest and Central Greece Coal Deposits: A Review

This review presents a mineralogical and physicochemical comparison of coal seams located in the regions of Northwest and Central Greece. The comparison extends to the fly ash derivatives from the coal combustion for energy production, in the cases where data are available. Coal occurrences from Northwest Greece tend to exhibit higher content of rare earth elements (REE) compared to those of Central Greece. Moreover, fly ash products show similar trends in Light-REE compared to their coal parent rocks. The observed REE distribution seems to be correlated with the occurrence of specific minerals such as allanite, monazite, as well as with Fe-contents.