--> ABSTRACT: Coal Availability Study in West Virginia, by N. Fedorko, III, B. M. Blake, E. I. Loud, S. W. McClelland, T. E. Repine, and A. F. Keiser; #91023 (1989)

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Coal Availability Study in West Virginia

N. Fedorko, III, B. M. Blake, E. I. Loud, S. W. McClelland, T. E. Repine, A. F. Keiser

The Coal Availability Study (CAS) is a United States Geological Survey (USGS), West Virginia Geological and Economic Survey (WVGES), Kentucky Geological Survey, and Virginia Division of Mines and Minerals cooperative program designed to derive more realistic in-ground tonnage estimates for central Appalachian basin coal deposits. The available coal resources is the amount of coal currently available for development after considering any geological, environmental, technological, regulatory, and cultural factors that might restrict mining. The WVGES has conducted research on the Sylvester quadrangle (1:24,000) in the Kanawha coalfield of Kanawha and Boone Counties and the Beckley quadrangle (1:24,000) in the New River coalfield of Raleigh County. These quadrangles were chos n as representative of each of the two coalfields. Results of these and future studies will be used to determine the impact of the restrictive factors on the remaining coal resources throughout the central Appalachian basin. Research was conducted using databases and software developed by the National Coal Resources Data System (NCRDS) of the USGS.

Results for the Sylvester quadrangle show that 80.1 million tons of the original 1,242.3 million tons of coal resources have been recovered or lost in underground and/or surface mining operations. The 1,162.2 million tons of remaining (original minus mined coal) resources have been reduced by the various mining restrictions to 1,086.4 million tons of available coal. Also, 26% of this available coal is considered too thin (14 to 28 in.) to be economically mined at this time. So, approximately 69% of the remaining resources of the ten coal beds studied on the Sylvester quadrangle are available for mining under current conditions.

In comparison, 43% of the 574.9 million tons of original resources of the four coal beds studied on the Beckley quadrangle have been mined. A large urban area restriction leaves available resources of 262.5 million tons. Removing the 14 to 28-in. currently unrecoverable portion leaves 157.1 million tons--a 52% reduction in the remaining resources currently available for development.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91023©1989 AAPG Eastern Section, Sept. 10-13, 1989, Bloomington, Indiana.