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[Malicus]

Bituminous coal doesn't go into bins.  It's still considered an ore.  It's basically a stone with a special purpose.

[Quietust]

Check the actual name of the item. If it is called "bituminous coal", then you should be able to smelt it. If it is called "bituminous coal blocks", then it can only be used as a building material or for strange moods (or you could possibly place them in an iron bin and start a thermonuclear reaction - bituminous coal works just as well as lignite).

[Zosit]

well its called mudstone and when I looked it up it on the wiki it said the mudstone is a Sedimentary layer and that sedimentary layers contain bituminous coal.

When I was talking about the bins I meant the charcoal

[Manchild]

sedimentary layers contain it sure.... but that doesnt mean that all sedimentary layers ARE it. the b.coal is its own minable stone. mudstone may be a sediment but it doesnt work as a coke.

Edit* i think i may be wrong.... but then again... i never built a working smelter

[Zosit]

I just noticed the mudstone has A list of things it contain in the wiki and one of the things it contains is Bituminous coal

[Malicus]

You can find the things it contains within the LAYER of mudstone.  Each individual stone of mudstone doesn't count as those things.  When you find something other than plain mudstone, you'd be told that you struck whatever (even if the whatever is just a different-colored rock).

[Zosit]

Oh.

So Bituminous coal is A ore?

[Malicus]

Basically, yes.

Technically, it's not classified as an ore, but you'd find it in the same way that you find ores.

[Zosit]

One more question when it says Sedimentary layer does it mean the z-level is sedimentary or what

[Neruz]

A Sedimentary layyer is a type of rock, they show up as bright white layers on the Embark screen.

Look it up on the DF wiki. Also on Wikipedia, as the DF rock layers attempt to mimic real-life rock layers.

[zooeyglass]

if you want to confirm for yourself that you have not yet mined any bituminous coal, got to the stocks screen 'z', then go to the fourth tab, 'stocks', and then scroll down to the 'stone' bit on pg.3 of that list. look through the stones list to see what stones you've mined.

if you think you may have bituminous coal blocks, look on the 'blocks' bit of that menu. or, start to build anything that can be built by blocks (a wall, a bridge, a workshop) and look through the list of building materials to see if it features...

[Quietust]

Basically, yes.

Technically, it's not classified as an ore, but you'd find it in the same way that you find ores.

Specifically, bituminous coal (and lignite) can be found as veins within sedimentary rock layers, just as you can find hematite and tetrahedrite.

[Satarus]

Mudstone is just a generic rock.  Only thing you can do with it is make blocks, stonecrafts or buildings out of it.  Now if you mine the area within the 48x48 sections that contain mudstone, you can find coal and lignite (and other sedimentary ores/gems).  If you dig deeper, you may find more layers of mudstone or other types of layer rock like granite or marble.

[Zosit]

Ok thanks for the help I understand a lot more now

[Albedo]

Zos - you should read the wiki on some of these terms and concepts.  It will make things clear(er) and answer questions you haven't thought to ask yet.  "Fuel", "sedimentary", "bituminous coal", "stockpile" and "smelter" may be some good places to start. Also "exploratory mining" for a semi-advanced lesson in how to find ores, and "the non-dwarf's guide to rock" (link on main page, center, under "Guides"). 


Now, let's be clear on the game terms - which are NOT clear, unfortunately.  "Bituminous coal" is dug out by a miner - that is not the same as "coal" or "coal fuel", which is either charcoal or coke - or "fuel", informally. (There are some other game terms, refined coal and coal fuel, which are the same but only muddy the water - I'll use "fuel").

Charcoal is a fuel, and that's what you have now so that's what you'll use to smelt the B's Coal. 

B's Coal will be put in a stone stockpile (but is also useful right where it's been mined), and charcoal in a block stockpile (once processed, charcoal and coke are "blocks", and in fact can be used for other "block" purposes, unless those need "fire-safe stone" - which charcoal is not.) 

ZG summed the rest up well. 

If you have B's coal and charcoal, it's possible that some dwarf(s) are waddling over to put them into a stockpile.  Pause the game, and use <k> over one of each and hit <f> twice - that forbids them (canceling any jobs involving them, and adding that big yellow F next to them) and then unforbids them, ensuring that they're free to use.  Then go to your smelter and try to queue up that job again, knowing you have (at least) one of each.

If that doesn't work, then there's a path problem, and we'll have to sort that out separately. (Have you successfully used this smelter for anything else?)