NFC INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING AND FERTILIZER RESEARCH

Assignment ERU
Coal Reserves in Pakistan
Submitted to: Sir Saqib Naseer

Submitted by: Muhammad Umar

14-MCE-66

Date of Submission: 15 May 2018

  Introduction:

Pakistan is a coal-rich country, but, unfortunately, coal has not been developed for power
generation for more than three decades due to lack of infrastructure, insufficient financing and
absence of modern coal mining technical expertise. The Government has now determined to
facilitate private investors to promote investment in coal development and coal power
generation. Unavailability of reliable coal is the main obstacle to significant progress in coal
power generation. The Federal Government and Provincial Governments, however, are
continuously trying to facilitate private investors in developing and promoting indigenous coal
for power generation. Coal is a cheap indigenous energy resource and, after the discovery of
175.5 billion tonnes of coal in Thar area of Sindh, Pakistan’s coal power potential has increased
manifold. It is anticipated that, if properly exploited, Pakistan’s coal resources may generate
more than 100,000 MW of electricity for the next 30 years

The presence of coal deposits in Pakistan was known before independence, but its economic
value was highlighted in 1980 when large reserves of coal were discovered in the Lakhra and
Sonda areas of Sindh Province. The discovery of another huge coal deposit of 175.5 billion tones
in an area of 10,000 sq. km in Tharparkar District of Sindh has provided a quantum increase in
the coal resources of Pakistan. After this discovery, Pakistan is now the 6th richest nation of the
world in respect of coal resources. Pakistan did not appear even on the list of coal-rich countries
before the discovery of Thar Coal. Coal resources available to Pakistan exist in all four provinces
and in AJK.
The total coal reserves are estimated at 185.5 billion tonnes

1. SINDH:
Thar 175,506 tons, Lakhra 1,328 tons, Sonda-Jherruck 5,523 tons, Meting- Jhimpir 473 tons
Indus East 1,777 tons, Badin 1611 tons
Sub-Total:- 184,623

2. BALOCHISTAN:
Sor-Range/Degari 50 tons, Khost-Sharigh-Harnai-Ziarat 88 tons, Mach 23 tons and Duki 56 tons
Sub-Total:- 217

3. PUNJAB
Salt-Range 213 tons and Makarwal 22 tons
Sub-Total:- 235

4. NWFP
Hangu 82 tons and Cherat 9 tons
Sub-Total: 91

5. AZAD KASHMIR
Kotli 9 tons

Grand Total: - 185,175 tons all over Pakistan

 1. Sindh Coal Location Reserves:

The Thar coalfield is located in the south-eastern part of Sindh. The first indication of the
presence of coal beneath the sands of the Thar Desert was reported while drilling water wells by
the British Overseas Development Agency (ODA) in coordination with the Sindh Arid Zone
Development Authority (SAZDA), in 1991. The Thar coalfield, with a resource potential of
175.5 million tonnes of coal, covers an area of 9000 sq. km. in the Tharparkar Desert. The
mineable coal reserves are estimated to be 1,620 million tonnes. The coal-bearing area is covered
by stable sand dunes. In order to establish the coal resources in the selected four blocks (Map 3),
a total of 167 holes were drilled at one kilometer spacing. Coal resources of the four blocks are
estimated at 9,629 million tonnes

2. Balochistan Coal Reserves:

Duki the tehsil of district loralai in province Balochistan, is rich with high quality Coal with
highest rate of extraction throughout Pakistan. Coal is the main business of the area. More than
80% of local population is directly related to the coal business. 100% conduction of the coal
business is in private hands but all of them are individuals and no company has ever invested in
it. Almost all the Pushtun tribes in Duki including Nasar, Tareen, Luni, Dumar and many others,
do this business.
Nasar tribe has much hold of this business as they are considered the master miners and
businessmen. There are big local coal tycoons like Sardar Akbar khan Nasar Oshkhail, Sardar
masoom khan Tareen, tekadar Atha Muhammad Nasar etc. The business of coal in the Duki
district is mainly under the control of the Coal mines owners, the Petti tekadars and the coal
agents. The coal mines owners own the coal mines either by being the owners of the land or have
acquired the rights to extract the coal through the allotment of the extraction of coal.
The Coal is transported to the Punjab province and is mainly used in the Brick kilns and other
factories like textile, cement etc. The mines vary in thesims (the width of the coal spread
underground in the land, stretched to various kilometers to be extracted). The smallest sim is 6
inches in size while the largestsim is 9 feet, on average.

3. Punjab Coal Reserves:

Kingri sub-Tehsil of Musakhel District is located on borders of Punjab Province. Kingri area is
well known for its natural proven coal reserves. In early 1980s coal exploration started but due to
unavailability of proper road structure, the project was stopped. In President Musharaf's regime
the road problems from Fort Minro to Kingri was met with, and now the area is connected to the
rest of the country for business and travel. The area possesses two different seems, one coming
from Chamalang and other from Duki. The Hills having coal are hard and supportive to mining.
Fifty plus mines are now operating in the area to full fill the energy requirements of the country.
Aram in Kingri has excellent coal and charcoal reserves, available just at the depth of 30 feet
 4. Northern Western Federal Providence of Pakistan Coal Reserves:

The coalfields of NWFP are not yet fully explored. Its coal deposits are located in two areas,
namely Hangu and Cherat the coal resources of Hangu and Cherat are estimated to be 91 million
tonnes. The coal is classified as Sub-bituminous and its heating value ranges from 9,386 to
14,217 Btu/lb. It has low sulfur and low ash. The coal beds in Hangu area are up to 3.5m thick
whereas the coal beds in Cherat area are generally less than one meter in thickness

5. Azad Jammu & Kashmir Coal Reserves:

The AJK coalfield is located near Kotli about 80 km south-east of Islamabad (Map 7). One or
two coal beds occur in the steeply dipping Patala Formation. The coal beds have an average
thickness of 0.6 m. The total coal resources of AJK are estimated at 0.06 million tonnes. The
coal is classified as Sub-bituminous and the heating value ranges from 7,336 to 12,338 Btu/lb.