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GSP identifies huge reserves of coal in Badin
By Sajid Chaudhry
ISLAMABAD: A very large coalfield of lingo-sub-bituminous rank coal has been identified as a result of wide spaced reconnaissance drill-exploration currently being conducted in the Badin area by the Geological Survey of Pakistan (GSP), sources told Daily Times.
Geologically the coal beds found in Badin appear to be the continuation of Thar field coal beds hence there is every possibility that vast areas falling in Badin, Mirpurkhas and Sanghar districts of Sindh province may have large resources of coal not discovered as yet.
The survey revealed that there is a real hope of making commercial use of this vast coal resource, as the encountered coal bed thick nesses in Badin are idle for underground coal mine development for which the technical know how exist in the country and the field is situated in an area with well developed infrastructure. Once these deposits are properly assessed and developed it will increase the share of coal in the commercial energy mix of the country, which presently is at a very low level of 7 percent.
In order for coal to be able to supply more of the needed energy, intensive coal exploration is required in the newly discovered Badin coal field and adjoining areas for preparing an inventory of potentially economic sub economic coal resources as a necessary prelude to its development and utilization.
The "Reserves" and "Reserve base" are that part of coal resources, which in addition to meeting above criteria could also be economically extracted at the time of determination, considering environmental, legal and technological constraints.
The proved, indicated and inferred coal resources of several billion tons which will be outlined in the Badin coal field and adjoining areas will be sufficient to support power generation of the magnitude of several thousands megawatts for so many years. The indicated geological reserves will be considered sufficient for bridging the present power gap and assure future power supply to the entire country, the copy of survey obtained by Daily Times revealed.
The reconnaissance and detailed geologic exploration is proposed in the PC-II by undertaking geological surveys and drilling to outline subsurface geology, collecting coal samples, undertake their chemical analyses and issue resource appraisal reports for use by government and private entrepreneurs.
In order to achieve the programme as outlined in this scheme, the GSP has created a hard core of coal geologists in its Sindh Division office at Karachi. This coal group which is now trained and has developed expertise in the field of coal exploration and geo-technical studies by working in Thar Coal exploration project will carry-out the evaluation of this new coal field with the help of persons inducted to this project.
This "Coal Appraisal Group" will draw and absorb manpower available from Thar project which will expire in 2007 and induct technical personal from the GSP, semi-government agencies and even from open market for the period of project either on contract or on consultation basis. The project may hire the services of local consultants for the technical evaluation of specific blocks. All equipments and vehicles procured under Systematic Evaluation and Appraisal of Coal Resources of Four Specific Tracts in Thar Coalfield Mitthi Districts Sindh (TCP) project will need to be transferred to facilitate early start of the project.
The estimated cost of the scheme is Rs 170.663 million. The scheme will be completed in about 3 years starting from 2009 onwards which would established measured reserves of several billions tons first by wide space drilling followed by drilling at close space which will determine its mining and utilization characteristics. Resource appraisal reports containing complete supportive data will be issued after completion of each phase.
GSP identifies huge reserves of coal in Badin
