Highlights

Demonstrated Reserve Base

This report, U.S. Coal Reserves: 1997 Update, contains updates to the coal resource and reserve data maintained by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). The demonstrated reserve base (DRB) of coal, first published in 1974, is an internally compatible subset of U.S. coal resource data which comprise the documented, in-place coal resources where, based on coalbed thickness and depth, mining is more likely to occur. Key DRB data include the following:

• The new national estimate of DRB coal resources remaining as of January 1, 1997, is 508 billion short tons (Figure HL1). Expressed in rounded numbers, this is an increase of 12 billion short tons from the previous (1995) DRB estimate of 496 billion short tons. Although the DRB is more than 466 times U.S. coal production in 1997, all the coal in the DRB cannot be recovered. Almost half the DRB is either inaccessible or likely to be lost in the mining process.




Figure HL1. Demonstrated Reserve Base of Coal and Estimated Recoverable Reserves in the United States by Sulfur Content and Coal-Producing Region as of January 1, 1997

Note: In each bar the entire length represents the demonstrated reserve base (DRB), and the segment of the bar on the left represents estimated recoverable reserves.   Source: Energy Information Administration estimates.



• The increase in the DRB is attributable to major revisions in a single State: Illinois. The DRB for Illinois increased by more than 15 billion short tons, based on resource data not previously mapped and analyzed for use in the DRB. This is in addition to 12 billion short tons of coal resources added to the 1995 Illinois DRB 2 years ago, in the first phase of revisions.

• The 15 billion short ton increase in the DRB between 1995 and 1997 was partly offset by more than 3 billion short tons of depletion nationwide during the same period.

• Nearly half the DRB is found in the West (see Figure HL2). Coal resources recoverable by surface mining make up almost one-third of the DRB, more than half of which (58 percent) occurs in the West. Two-thirds of the DRB is minable only by underground mining, and more than half of that amount (58 percent) is found in the Interior and Appalachian Coal-Producing Regions. Overall, recovery of about 54 percent of the coal in the DRB is projected for surface and underground mining combined.

  Figure HL2. Coal-Producing Regions

  Note: Delineations depict only boundaries between regions. Actual coal production originates from coal-bearing areas (not shown) within each region. For more information, see Table 13.   Source: Energy Information Administration.

  
  
  
• The quantities of low-sulfur, medium-sulfur, and high-sulfur coals in the DRB are relatively equivalent (Figure HL1). Nationwide, low-sulfur coal is estimated to amount to 170 billion short tons, or 33 percent of all coal included in the DRB. Medium-sulfur coal accounts for 28 percent of the DRB and high-sulfur coal for 39 percent.

• Most low-sulfur coal (84 percent) and medium-sulfur coal (61 percent) in the DRB is found in the West. Most of the high-sulfur coal in the DRB (71 percent) is in the Interior region.

Estimated Recoverable Reserves

EIA's estimated recoverable reserves of coal equate to the calculated amount of coal believed to be recoverable from the DRB is in the United States. Estimated recoverable reserves are the quantities of DRB coal that may be recoverable, based on regional estimates of coal resource accessibility and mining recovery rates. Estimated recoverable reserves, which usually are assigned the same Btu and sulfur content as the DRB from which they were extracted, have the following characteristics:

• The estimated recoverable reserves of coal in the United States include 275 billion short tons (Figure HL1). Their distribution by low-, medium-, and high-sulfur levels may differ somewhat from the profile of their DRB sourcedata because of regional differences in resource accessibility, geology, and recovery rates.
• Estimated low-sulfur recoverable reserves make up the largest part of the total, at 36 percent. Estimated medium- and high-sulfur recoverable reserves account for 31 and 33 percent, respectively. This distribution by sulfur content is somewhat transposed from that for the DRB, where high-sulfur coal accounts for the largest part of the total (39 percent).
• Higher recovery rates are projected for the low-sulfur surface-minable reserves concentrated in the West than for the underground reserves in the Interior and Appalachia, where more of the coal must be mined underground and cleaned.