“…This approach assumes that the major lithophile elements (Si, Al, Mg, Fe, Ca, Mn, K, Na, Ti) that constitute the bulk of the inorganic constituents in coal (Bragg et al, 1998;Tewalt et al, 2010) originate predominantly from silicates and oxides in atmospheric dust. This assumption refers to the origin of the elements not to the association of these elements in the coal with mineral matter, organic matter etc.…”