The Akalin seam in medium bituminous coal rank is located near the bottom level of the coal-bearing Kozlu Formation of Westphalian A age in the Zonguldak Basin of Turkey. Ten whole-seam channel coal samples were collected from the Gelik mine in this basin. The mineable coal thickness is between 50 and 120 cm (average 80 cm). The samples were characterized by low ash (average 5.3%) and low total sulphur contents (0.77%). The identifiable minerals by x-ray diffraction in whole-coal samples include clays (kaolinite, illite, and chlorite), quartz, calcite, dolomite, and pyrite. Accessory mineralogy, which was determined with a scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with an energy dispersive (EDX) on five coal samples, forms nearly pure barite, barite with Sr traces, chalcopyrite, apatite, REE-phosphate, Ti-oxide, galena, and Fe-oxide. All the samples were analyzed for trace elements using ICP-MS. Trace element contents of the coal samples studied are relatively low, except for Ba (31-432 mug/ g, average 130 mug/g) and Mn (52-579 mug/g, average 129 mug/g). The former can be related to the barite and the later to mainly clays in the samples.