This paper reports on the hydrotreatment of a high sulphur subbituminous coal with asphaltenes from this coal catalysed with Zn (0.05% w/w) and Mo (1% w/w) at 400 degrees C for short times ranging from 5 to 30 min. The catalytic precursors, dispersed on coal in two successive stages, are converted during the hydrotreatment into their corresponding sulphides according to the SEM-EDX analysis performed. While with MoS2 catalyst the oils are composed of about 50% aromatics 50% polars, with this bynary catalyst about one-third of oils are saturated compounds. An important synergysm is also observed with 80% catalyst loaded coal- 20% asphaltenes as feed mixture increasing the selectivity to oils formation.