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With an increasing demand for coal and an increased environmental and mine safety awareness, the classical objective of an exploration program, to find and prove out the existence of a coal deposit, must be expanded to include exploration for factors that may inhibit the successful recovery of the coal deposit. A massive amount of basic information about the coal seam and the associated overburden and underburden is collected during a conventional exploration program. Much of this information is lost to the decision maker, because these data are not fully utilized and evaluated during the exploration program. An increase in the responsibility of the exploration geologist, to include the analysis of the stratigraphy and determination of the environments of deposition of the coal and associated overburden and underburden, can go a long way toward maximizing the value of the exploration budget. The stratigraphy and environments of deposition establish a three-dimensional framework for the exploration program, mine feasibility studies, environmental impact analyses, and mine design. Additional engineering and environmental studies can be tied to the results of the exploration program thereby minimizing the exploration budget and maximizing the geology.

Authors:

Mathewson, C. C.; Gowan, S. W., 1981
Third International Coal Exploration Symposium, Calgary, Canada

Keywords:
Stratigraphic framework, geologic investigation, environment of deposition, three-dimensional framework, data maximization, exploration budget, project development budget, mineral resources

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