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Thar - The Energy Pill for Pakistan
Maida Siddiqui
Moiz Tapal
Ayesha Sarfaraz
Usman

Thar Coal Reserves
C
oal -the black gold is found in all the four provinces of Pakistan. Country has huge coal resources, about 185 billion tons (making Pakistan stand 18th in the world), out of which 3.3 billion tons are in proven/measured category and about 11 billion are indicated reserves, the bulk of it is found in Sindh province. The current total mine-able reserves of coal are estimated at 2 billion tones (60% of the measured reserves).
The largest coalfield of Pakistan, Thar, is a resource potential of about 175 billion tones sufficient to meet country’s fuel requirements for centuries. The rank of Thar coal ranges from lignite-B to sub-bituminous-A with high moisture and low sulfur content. The average chemical analyses of the coal samples from the entire Thar coalfield are: Moisture | 46.77% | Volatile Matter | 23.42% | Fixed Carbon | 16.66% | Ash | 6.24% | Sulfur | 1.16% | Heating Value (Dry) | 10,898 Btu/lb |
It is one of the world’s largest lignite deposits discovered by the Sindh Arid Zone Development Authority. In 1991, enormous coal deposits were conferred by the Geological Survey of Pakistan and the United States Agency for International Development, spread over more than 9, 000 sq. km. Estimated lignite deposits in Sindh, suitable for electric power generation and other applications are around 218 billion tons- about 98% of coal deposits of the country.
If all the oil reserves of Saudi Arabia and Iran are put together these will be approximately 375 Billion Barrels, but a single Thar coal reserve of Sindh is about 850 trillion cubic feet, which is more than oil reserves of Saudi & Iran. These reserves estimated at 850 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of gas, are about 30 times higher than