Coal fires

There are hundreds of coal fires burning around the world. Those burning underground can be difficult to locate and many cannot be extinguished. Fires can cause the ground above to subside, combustion gases are dangerous to life, and breaking out to the surface can initiate surface wildfires. See also Mine fire.

Coal seams can be set on fire by spontaneous combustion or contact with a mine fire or surface fire. A grass fire in a coal area can set dozens of coal seams on fire. Coal fires in China burn 120 million tons of coal a year, emitting 360 million metric tons of carbon dioxide. This amounts to 2-3% of the annual worldwide production of CO₂ from fossil fuels, or as much as emitted from all of the cars and light trucks in the United States.

In Centralia, Pennsylvania (a borough located in the Coal Region of the United States) an exposed vein of coal ignited in 1962 due to a trash fire in the borough landfill, located in an abandoned anthracite strip mine pit. Attempts to extinguish the fire were unsuccessful, and it continues to burn underground as of September 2006.

The reddish siltstone rock that caps many ridges and buttes in the Powder River Basin (Wyoming), and in western North Dakota is called porcelanite, which also may resemble the coal burning waste "clinker" or volcanic "scoria." Clinker is rock that has been fused by the natural burning of coal. In the case of the Powder River Basin approximately 27 to 54 billion metric tons of coal burned within the past three million years. Wild coal fires in the area were reported by the Lewis and Clark expedition as well as explorers and settlers in the area.

The Australian Burning Mountain was originally believed to be a volcano, but the smoke and ash comes from a coal fire which may have been burning for over 5,500 years.

Text 7

World coal reserves

It has been estimated that, as of 1996, there is around one exagram (1 × 10¹⁵ kg or 1 trillion tonnes) of total coal reserves accessible using current mining technology, approximately half of it being hard coal. The energy value of all the world's coal is well over 100,000 quadrillion Btu (100 zettajoules). There probably is enough coal to last for 300 years. However, this estimate assumes no rise in population, and no increased use of coal to attempt to compensate for the depletion of natural gas and petroleum. A recent (2003) study by scientist Gregson Vaux, which takes those factors into account, estimates that coal could peak in the United States as early as 2032, on average. "Peak" does not mean coal will disappear, but defines the time after which no matter what efforts are expended coal production will begin to decline in quantity and energy content. The disappearance of coal will occur much later, around the year 2267, assuming all other factors do not change. British Petroleum, in its annual report 2006, estimated at 2005 end, there were 909,064 million tons of proved coal reserves worldwide, or 155 years reserve to production ratio.

The United States Department of Energy uses estimates of coal reserves in the region of 1,081,279 million short tons, which is about 4,786 BBOE (billion barrels of oil equivalent) . The amount of coal burned during 2001 was calculated as 2.337 GTOE (gigatonnes of oil equivalent), which is about 46 MBOED (million barrels of oil equivalent per day) . At that rate those reserves will last 285 years. As a comparison natural gas provided 51 MBOED, and oil 76 MBD (million barrels per day) during 2001.

Of the 3 fossil fuels coal has the most widely distributed reserves, and coal is mined in over 100 countries, and on all continents except Antarctica. The largest reserves are found in the USA, Russia, China, Pakistan, India, Australia and South Africa.

Proved recoverable coal reserves at end-1999 (million tonnes)
Coutry	Bituminous (including anthracite)	Sub- bituminous	Lignite	TOTAL
United States of America	115891	101021	33082	249994
Russian Federation	49088	97472	10450	157010
China	62200	33700	18600	114500
India	82396		2000	84396
Australia	42550	1840	37700	82090
Germany	23000		43000	66000
South Africa	49520			49520
Ukraine	16274	15946	1933	34153
Kazakhstan	31000		3000	34000
Poland	20300		1860	22160
Serbia, Montenegro	64	1460	14732	16256
Brazil		11929		11929
Colombia	6267	381		6648
Canada	3471	871	2236	6578
Czech Republic	2114	3414	150	5678
Indonesia	790	1430	3150	5370
Botswana	4300			4300
Uzbekistan	1000		3000	4000
Turkey	278	761	2650	3689
Greece			2874	2874
Bulgaria	13	233	2465	2711
Pakistan		2265		2265
Iran (Islamic Rep.)	1710			1710
United Kingdom	1000		500	1500
Romania	1	35	1421	1457
Thailand			1268	1268
Mexico	860	300	51	1211
Chile	31	1150		1181
Hungary		80	1017	1097
Peru	960		100	1060
Kyrgyzstan			812	812
Japan	773			773
Spain	200	400	60	660
Korea (Democratic People's Rep.)	300	300		600
New Zealand	33	206	333	572
Zimbabwe	502			502
Netherlands	497			497
Venezuela	479			479
Argentina		430		430
Philippines		232	100	332
Slovenia		40	235	275
Mozambique	212			212
Swaziland	208			208
Tanzania	200			200
Nigeria	21	169		190
Greenland		183		183
Slovakia			172	172
Vietnam	150			150
Congo (Democratic Rep.)	88			88
Korea (Republic)	78			78
Niger	70			70
Afghanistan	66			66
Algeria	40			40
Croatia	6		33	39
Portugal	3		33	36
France	22		14	36
Italy		27	7	34
Austria			25	25
Ecuador			24	24
Egypt (Arab Rep.)		22		22
Ireland	14			14
Zambia	10			10
Malaysia	4			4
Central African Republic			3	3
Myanmar (Burma)	2			2
Malawi		2		2
New Caledonia	2			2
Nepal	2			2
Bolivia	1			1
Norway		1		1
Taiwan, China	1			1
Sweden		1		1

Text 8

COMMITTEE OF GEOLOGY AND EARTH INTERIOR DEVELOPMENT

OF MINISTRY OF ENERGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES

OF THE REPUBLIC OF KAZAKHSTAN