The present work describes a study of the liquefaction and pyrolysis of a Southern Brazilian mineral coal and its derived asphaltenes, using conversion systems developed in our laboratory. The results show that significant quantities of the intermediate polarity fraction named resins is obtained through the pyrolysis of coal, while after the liquefaction process higher quantities of the higher fractions was found. A model is proposed to explain the liquefaction and pyrolysis processes of both coal and coal-derived asphaltenes.