Coal Exploration of Thar desert

The current acute shortage of energy in Pakistan has developed into a severe crisis and the situation is very grim, grave and alarming. In the wake of the depleting natural gas resources and presence of no sizeable oil reservoirs in the country, people of Pakistan are looking up to Government for the development of indigenous coal resources to remedy the crisis.
Thar coal (lignite), discovered about 25 years ago in Sindh province appears to be the only ray of light in today's bleak circumstances. As far as the generation of electricity by oil or gas is concerned, it is very expensive and Pakistan can ill-afford the cost. It will put a huge burden on national exchequer.
The huge and massive coal deposits of Thar can prove to be a potential and sustainable resource for power generation in the country; just as in many countries of the world, coal is the main contributor for their power generation. For instance, South Africa generates 93% of its electricity by coal; Poland 92%; China 79%; Australia 77%; our immediate neighbour India 69%; USA 49%; and Germany 46% (IEA, 2010). If these developed countries are making use of their lignite for power generation, why can't Pakistan do the same in order to lessen the sufferings of its people?
It is also noticeable that several countries, such as Poland, Germany, Greece, Romania, and Ukraine use the same lignite as ours. In fact our lignite appears to be better in certain respects. For example, its sulfur content, which is a deleterious material, has been found to be around 1 that is much less than many lignite of the world.
If lignite deposits of Thar are adequately developed and optimally exploited, Pakistan can bank on these enormous indigenous coal resources for the fulfilment of its energy requirements, not only for the present, but also for hundreds of years in the future.
According to rep orts, Thar coalfield covers an area of 9100 sq. km (140 km N-S and 65 km E-W), and 175 billion tons of coal resources exist in Thar. So, at present and in future, coal-fired plants would be the best option for power generation in Pakistan as they have the necessary potential to contribute significantly to the Pakistan energy mix.
Ever since the discovery of coal under the sands of Thar Desert, exploration for coal resources by domestic and foreign companies and organisations has been going on in some form or the other in the area. In order to step up the pace of exploration in Thar Coalfield, both Provincial and Federal governments decided to take certain measures so that coal resources could be exploited as quickly as possible for power generation.
Consequently, a number of steps were undertaken including establishment of institutions such as Sindh Coal Authority (established long-time ago) and lately constituted Sindh Coal and Energy Board, and Sindh Board of Investment. Thus the area hitherto largely neglected, has received immense attention of the Government of Pakistan, particularly Government of Sindh. Also, much attention has been paid to all the more important infrastructure, without which exploration cannot be carried out in an area.
Sindh Coal Authority, with the help and co-operation of Federal Government, has provided important infrastructure facilities consisting of network of roads, water supply, and electricity transmission lines in the Thar Desert. This has brought the Thar coal resources reasonably close to the population centers of Hyderabad and Karachi.
After the initial exploration of Thar Desert and submission of report by USAID geologists' team, more systematic and detailed block-wise exploration started; wherein each block covers an area of about 100 sq. km, in the preceding years, first four blocks were explored by Geological Survey of Pakistan, while the next two had been explored by Chinese companies.
Deep Rock Drilling Pvt Ltd (DRDPL), a Karachi based national exploration company got hold of the cue in May, 2007 and since then, it had never looked back. It took up the task of exploration from just where Chinese had left off. The Company, owing to its impressive performance, won successive contracts for exploration of Blocks-VIII to Block-XII and IIIB through open bidding competition. By now, exploration has been completed in most of the blocks assigned to the Company.
DRD's main objectives of exploration can be summarised as characterisation of coal, the Coalfield, coal geology, and more importantly estimation of coal resources of the block investigated. The sole purpose of this exploration is to collect every possible piece of information and relevant data pertaining to coal deposits that might be needed by the coal mining companies in future.
Thus, in order to achieve the above objectives, studies and activities were planned that included: Drilling of boreholes on grid-pattern locations; preparation of litho logical logs, drilling and geophysical logs; preparation of isopleths maps of the cumulative coal thicknesses; major coal-seam thicknesses showing trends of coal swelling and pinching, and of overburden, strategic graphic columns and cross sections; 3-D images of the area drilled.
Several hundred geochemical analyses of the representative cored coal samples were carried out at national & international laboratories. These tests included: "Proximate" and "Ultimate analyses" determining contents of moisture, ash, sulfur, volatiles, fixed carbon; carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, total sulfur contents, organic and inorganic sulfur contents; specific gravity of the coal, trace element analysis; petrography of the coal determining its characteristic mackerel composition, etc.
The study of coal also included Float-&-sink test that determines wash ability of the coal, Hard grove-Grind ability Index (HGI) and ignition tests. Hydro geological and geotechnical studies were also carried out by DRDPL in the project area in order to assist mining companies in their future work. The calculation of coal resources in three categories; ie 'Measured; 'Indicated' and 'Inferred' is carried out using the method of reliability circles while maintaining USGS and JORC standards.
DRD has so far drilled about 74,000m in 300 boreholes over an area of about 650 sq. km explored by them in Thar Coalfield. It is heartening to note that DRD, a national exploration company is carrying out the task of exploration in a very professional way maintaining international standards. It follows the guide lines for various criteria as given in the Australian JORC code during exploration.
It is expected that the development of Thar coal resources will ensure long term implementation of "National Energy Security to Pakistan" plan. The Thar Coal resources not only possess a huge potential for power generation and gasification but also for meeting the energy requirements of various industries of the country, such as cement and sugar industries. In view of the enormous economic and other benefits that Thar coal promises for this area and whole of Pakistan, its large scale mining should start as early as possible. Thar is waiting for those who could mine out the brown wealth it has been hiding underneath for about 60 million years. Obviously, the power generated at Thar would provide numerous jobs to the skilled and non-skilled workers belonging to the area, thus, eliminating poverty, bringing, prosperity and well-being to Thar District. Above all, the electricity produced through the use of Thar coal will illuminate whole of Pakistan, and shall keep the wheel of industry driven for hundreds of years in future.