The injection of coal as an auxiliary fuel in ironmaking blast furnaces has been introduced on many furnaces worldwide. This paper examines the present practice of coal injection and discusses future directions for the technology. This has been undertaken through the use of a heat and mass balance model which predicts the replacement rates of coke by coal and the effect of coal injection on blast furnace productivity. The results indicate that future pulverised coal injection could replace substantial quantities of metallurgical coke, but that the energy balance economics of individual steel plants will have a dominating influence on the future of the technology.