Chosen Anthracite Company Chosen Anthracite Company The Chosen Anthracite Company, Ltd. (Japanese: 朝鮮無煙炭株式会社 "Chōsen Muentan Kabushiki Kaisha"; Korean: 조선무연탄주식회사 "Joseon Muyeontan Jusikhoesa") was a kabushiki kaisha in colonial Korea that operated collieries around Korea. It was founded in 1927 by the Mitsubishi "zaibatsu" of Japan by integrating the anthracite mining operations around Pyongyang, eventually becoming the largest coal-producing company in Korea - 74.9% of the coal distributed in Korea was produced by the Chosen Anthracite Company. In 1935, majority control of the Chosen Anthracite Company went to the Oriental Development Company (Japanese: "Tōyō Takushoku Kabushiki Kaisha"), which transformed the Chosen Anthracite Company into
Anthracite difficulty of igniting it. This was a particular concern in smelting iron using a blast furnace. With the invention of hot blast in 1828, which used waste heat to preheat combustion air, anthracite became a preferred fuel, accounting for 45% of US pig iron production within 15 years. Anthracite for iron smelting was later displaced by coke. From the late 19th century until the 1950s, anthracite was the most popular fuel for heating homes and other buildings in the northern US, until it was supplanted by oil-burning systems and more recently natural gas systems. Many large public buildings, such as