Report of Investigations--KGS

Abstract

Available resources for the Fire Clay coal were calculated for a 15-quadrangle area in the Eastern Kentucky Coal Field. Original coal resources were estimated to be 1.8 billion tons (BT). Coal mined or lost in mining was estimated at 449 million tons (MT), leaving 1.3 BT of remaining Fire Clay resources in the study area. Of the remaining resources, 400 MT is restricted from mining, primarily because the coal is less than 28 in. thick, normally considered too thin to mine underground using present technology. The total coal available for mining in the study area is 911 MT, or 52 percent of the original resource. Of the 911 MT, 14.9 percent is thicker than 42 in., and only 6.1 percent is accessible by surface-mining methods. The largest block of available coal is in the Leatherwood quadrangle, is less than 42 in. thick, and mostly occurs below drainage.

Publication Date

1999

Series

Series XII

Report Number

Report of Investigations 3

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.13023/kgs.ri03.12

Notes

© 1999 Kentucky Geological Survey, University of Kentucky

Funding Information

This study was funded by the Kentucky Geological Survey.

Related Content

Some of the data used for this study were collected with grants from the National Coal Resources Data System (NCRDS) (1434-94-A-1201 and 1434-95-A-01322) and Coal Availability Program (1434-HQ-96-AG-1616), funded by the U.S. Geological Survey.

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