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Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr
IIRC there were some studies regarding the usage of charcoal instead of fossil coal. It may seem troublesome due to claims of an increased deforestation, but residues of processing of some crops (including some fruits and nuts native to Amazon and other rainforests) can be a feedstock for high-quality charcoal.
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All the metal smelting in western Montana was done with charcoal from local kilns before coal was available. Ironically Montana is like tha Saudia Arabia of coal but they didn't know it was there or had no access to it or the developed coal of the east. What they did have was forests and clay so they built these beehive looking kilns and burned the wood starved of oxygen to make charcoal. Burns hot enough to extract any metals out of solid rocks.