Grindability index of coal is usually determined by Hardgrove Grindability Index (HGI). The correlation between the proximate analysis of Chinese coal and HGI was studied. It was found from statistical analysis that, the higher the moisture and the volatile matter content in coal, the less the HGI will be. On the contrary, the higher the ash and the fixed carbon content in coal, the higher the HGI will be. But the correlation between proximate analysis and HGI in coals is nonlinear. The prediction equation of HGI reported in literature, which is based on proximate analysis of coal and linear regression method, is not correct for coals in China. In this paper, the generalized regression neural network (GRNN) method was used to predict the HGI. A higher precision in the prediction result was obtained through such new method. By this method, the HGI can be estimated indirectly from the proximate analysis of coal when the HGI measurement equipment is not available. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.