Illinois coal reserve assessment and database development. Final report

The new demonstrated reserve base estimate of coal of Illinois is 105 billion short tons. This estimate is an increase from the 78 billion tons in the Energy Information Administration`s demonstrated reserve base of coal, as of January 1, 1994. The new estimate arises from revised resource calculations based on recent mapping in a number of countries, as well as significant adjustments for depletion due to past mining. The new estimate for identified resources is 199 billion tons, a revision of the previous estimate of 181 billion tons. The new estimates incorporate the available analyses of sulfur, heat content, and rank group appropriate for characterizing the remaining coal resources in Illinois. Coal-quality data were examined in conjunction with coal resource mapping. Analyses of samples from exploration drill holes, channel samples from mines and outcrops, and geologic trends were compiled and mapped to allocate coal resource quantities to ranges of sulfur, heat content, and rank group. The new allocations place almost 1% of the demonstrated reserve base of Illinois in the two lowest sulfur categories, in contrast to none in the previous allocation used by the Energy Information Administration (EIA). The new allocations also place 89% of the demonstrated reserve base in the highest sulfur category, in contrast to the previous allocation of 69% in the highest category.