The Olympus CUE-3 Colour Image Analysis System (CIAS) offers various p
rocessing and statistical functions for the analysis of two-dimensiona
l images of a variety of materials, based on the colour characteristic
s and geometric properties of structural and textural elements. In thi
s investigation the applicability of CIAS to coal petrology is describ
ed. Four high volatile bituminous coal samples from the Westphalian Co
al Measures of well Kemperkoul-1 (The Netherlands) have been analysed
using CIAS as well as conventional point count analysis. A statistical
comparison of the results shows that CIAS is competitive to conventio
nal coal petrological analysis. The reduction of processing time by 50
% and the improvement of the repeatability suggests that CIAS deserves
serious consideration as an efficient alternative to conventional mac
eral group analysis.