Display omitted •The total rare earth elements contents for the high ash coal samples was ≥ 225 ppm.•LREEs exhibited a greater association with the mineral matter.•HREEs manifest a greater affinity for the organic fraction.•HREEs were distributed with kaolinite dispersed in cleats of the carbon matrices.•A Coutlook ≥ 0.88 for both coals suggests a potential promising REE source. Conventional deposits of rare earth elements (REEs) cannot meet the high demand for REEs globally. Therefore, the prospecting of REEs from alternative sources like high ash coal is vital. In this study, coal discard and “Run of Mine” (ROM) coal were studied to evaluate the abundance and association of REEs in these materials. The TESCAN Integrated Mineral Analyzer (TIMA) and X-ray diffractometer (XRD) techniques were employed to determine the mineralogy of the coal samples. TIMA was further utilized to investigate the REE associations and distributions, whilst the inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was used to quantify the amount of REEs in the coal samples. Quantitative analysis results revealed that the total REE content in the coal discard and ROM coal was above 225 ppm. Furthermore, the results show that the dominant REE-bearing minerals in the discard and ROM coal samples were kaolinite, pyrite, and hematite. In addition, the heavy REEs (HREEs) displayed a strong affinity for the organic macerals and were enriched in the ROM coal. The encouraging results of significantly light REEs (LREEs) relative to HREEs in both coals suggest they are viable prospects for REE extraction. Hydrometallurgical leaching is therefore recommended to assess the potential for REE recovery from these sources.