Coal news and updates

India’s proven coal reserves at 125.9 bn tons: GSI

July 15: India’s total proven coal reserves stand at 125.9 billion tons as of April 1, 2014, according to the latest estimate by the Geological Survey of India (GSI). The estimate takes into account coal reserves found up to the depth of 1,200 meters.

The current estimate shows an increase of around 2.7 billion tons over GSI’s estimate in 2013.

The increased estimate further corroborates geologists’ claim of abundant reserves of coal in the country and also consolidates India’s position among the countries having the largest coal reserves, along with the US, Russia and China.

However, not all of the proven reserves can be mined as the current technology available with the Indian miners allows mining up to a maximum of 600 meters.

Total reserves:India’s total coal reserves stand at 301.6 billion tons as of April 1, 2014, up from 298.9 billion tons in 2013 and 293 billion tons in 2012, the GSI estimate shows. The addition to the total coal reserves in 2013-14 was around 2.6 billion tons, which was lower than an addition of 5 billion tons in 2012-13 and 7.14 billion tons in 2011-12.

Interestingly, the majority of incremental reserves in 2013-14 was in the category of proven reserves as indicated and inferred reserves remained almost at their previous year’s levels. The reserves under the indicated category showed a marginal drop in 2014.

Difference between coal reserves (in million tons):

The increase in proved reserves in inventory as of April 1, 2014 is mainly due to proving of coal resources in Mand Raigarh (1,204 mt), Singrauli (594 mt), Talcher (507 mt), South Karanpura (188 mt), Godavari Valley (125 mt), Bishrampur (69 mt), East Bokaro (34 mt) and Raniganj (7 mt) coalfields.

As of April 1, 2014, the share of proved reserves stands at 42%, while that of indicated and inferred categories stand at 47% and 11%, respectively.

The latest estimates take into account the coal deposits found up to the depth of 1,200 metres in Gondwana coalfields and Tertiary coalfields. Almost the entire reserves of 301 billion tons are found in the Gondwana coalfields while a miniscule part of 1.49 billion tons is traced in the Tertiary region.

A depth-wise break-up shows that reserves up to the level of 0-300 metres are at 176.29 billion tons, 0-600 metres (only for Jharia coalfield for which break-up is not available) at 14.21 billion tons, 300-600 metres at 88.735 billion tons and 600-1,200 metres at 22.326 billion tons.

The geographical distribution of coal shows that a major part of the reserves is spread across eight states in India. The largest coal-bearing states are Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh.

Coking and non-coking coal:Proven reserves of coking coal, according to the latest estimates, stand at 18.399 billion tons, while that of non-coking coal at 106.915 billion tons as of April 1, 2014. Total reserves of coking and non-coking coal are around 34 billion tons and 266 billion tons, respectively.

Of the total coking coal reserves, prime coking coal deposits are 5.3 billion tons, medium coking coal deposits are 27 billion tons and semi-coking coal deposits at 1.7 billion tons.

Type and category-wise break-up of India’s coal reserves as of April 1, 2014 (in million tons):

(The indicated reserves are the estimates of ore computed from boreholes, outcrops, and developmental data and projected for a reasonable distance on geologic evidence. An inferred reserve is an estimate based on relationships, character of deposit, and past experience, without actual measurements or samples; it should include the limits between which the deposit may lie. A potential reserve is ore not yet discovered but whose presence is suspected; the term is sometimes used for ore not commercially viable at present. A proved reserve is a resource reliably established by tunnels, boreholes or mining).