--> Abstract: Coking-Coal Reserves of Oklahoma, by S. A. Friedman; #90968 (1977).

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Abstract: Coking-Coal Reserves of Oklahoma

S. A. Friedman

Six bituminous coal beds in Oklahoma contain 3,427 million MT of remaining resources of coking coal, a vital carbonizing fuel in steel manufacture. This quantity is 53% of the state's remaining coal resources as of January 1, 1974. The net-recoverable reserves of coking coal are 965 million MT (28% of the remaining coking-coal resources); 111 million MT is recoverable by surface mining. At present, approximately 0.9 million MT is shipped annually from 7 surface mines to 4 out-of-state steel manufacturers.

Oklahoma's coking-coal resources are broken down as follows, by bed, metric tonnage, and sulfur percentage: Hartshorne coal, 1,071 million, 1.6%; Lower Hartshorne coal, 1,048 million, 1.0%; Upper Hartshorne coal, 405 million, 1.5%; McAlester coal, 468 million, 1.0%; Stigler coal, 302 million, 1.4%; and Croweburg coal, 133 million, 0.8%.

Plans are developing for the production of 0.9 MT from 3 underground mines and 1 surface mine within the next three years. The capital investment for a new mine is estimated at $1 to $5 million (1976 dollars) for planned annual production of 100,000 to 1,000,000 MT. Coal-preparation plants will cost $1/2 to $3 million each. Annual operating costs of coking-coal production in Oklahoma have more than doubled since 1973; high-volatile bituminous coking-coal prices (f.o.b.) have doubled, and medium to low-volatile coking-coal prices have tripled.

Thus, considering the present and planned production of coking coal in Oklahoma, the state's 900 million MT of net-recoverable reserves of this coal should last 500 to 1,000 years.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90968©1977 AAPG-SEPM Annual Convention and Exhibition, Washington, DC