Anthracite held in the warm hand than a similar lump of bituminous coal at the same temperature. The chemical composition of some typical anthracites is given in the article coal. Anthracite has a history of use in blast furnaces for iron smelting; however, it lacked the pore space of metallurgical coke, which eventually replaced anthracite. In southwest Wales, anthracite has been burned as a domestic fuel since at least medieval times, when it was mined near Saundersfoot. More recently, large-scale mining of anthracite took place right across the western part of the South Wales Coalfield until the late 20th century. Mining
Anthracite iron differently designed furnaces. The first American smelt of Anthracite Pig Iron was performed July 4, 1840 by principal-partners David Thomas, Josiah White and Erskine Hazard at their Lehigh Crane Iron Works in their first hot blast furnace along Catasauqua Creek aided by Samuel Thomas and the employees of the LCIW, in what became Catasauqua in Northampton County, Pennsylvania. The technology enabled industries the chance to produce cast iron sufficient to demand and eventually adapt production to also feed the demand to generate wrought iron and steel. These useful materials are achieved by adding additional processing — by taking pig iron