Mechanisms involved in geological storage of CO2 and eventual production of methane are complex due to a number of different factors involved. One of the important factors to be taken into account is the geomechanical behaviour of coal, key to the success of the exploration as well as the characterization of the pore structure of the material.Coal can be regarded as a sedimentary rock possessing two perpendicular families of microfissures called cleats.This work presents results of an experimental program aiming at the characterization of the mechanical properties of coal from the Barro Branco formation. A constitutive model (Lade-Kim s model) was tested in order to check its validity in the representation of the stress-strain-strength behaviour of the coal. Lade-Kim s model is well accepted for the representation of the mechanical behaviour of soft rocks. Furthermore, in order to characterize the porous structure of the material, a number of tests were performed such as: X Ray Micro CT scan, scanning electron microscopy, minipermeameter determination of permeability and mercury injection porosimetry.