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To: trane250
I understand that Alaska has 3 billion tons of anthracite coal

Alaska has a lot of coal, but not anthracite quality.

The majority of the Alaskan coal is lignite, sub-bituminous and bituminous. A few years ago, estimates of Alaska's coal resources placed them at approximately 130 billion tons. Now, largely because of better knowledge about the coal beneath the North Slope and the offshore area beyond, the estimates range from 1,860 billion to 5,000 billion tons.

Alaska Science Forum, Alaska's Coal Article #492
http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF4/492.html
June 26, 1981

Largely untapped, hypothetical coal resources of Alaska are estimated to be as much as 5,500 billion short tons.

The Cretaceous coal resources, generally of bituminous and lignite rank, are found mainly in the Northern Alaska-North Slope coal province with 120 billion short tons of identified resources and 3,200 billion short tons of undiscovered or hypothetical resources. Minor Tertiary lignite and subbituminous coal resources are found in the Northern Alaska-North Slope coal province with 670 billion short tons of undiscovered or hypothetical resources.

Most of the Tertiary coal resources, mainly lignite to subbituminous with minor bituminous and semianthracite, are in the Central Alaska-Nenana and Southern Alaska-Cook Inlet coal provinces with as much as 1,600 billion short tons of identified and undiscovered or hypothetical resources. Identified Tertiary coal resources in these two provinces are as much as 19,300 million short tons.

Alaska Coal Resources and Coalbed Methane Potential
U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 2198
http://pubs.usgs.gov/bul/b2198/B2198-508.pdf
February 6, 2003

22 posted on 11/05/2007 6:33:02 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: thackney; RightWhale; Robert A. Cook, PE
The largest fields of anthracite coal in the United States are found in Northeastern Pennsylvania called the Coal Region, where there are 7 billion short tons (6.4 petagrams) of minable reserves. Deposits at Crested Butte, Colorado were mined historically. Anthracite deposits of an estimated 3 billion short tons (2.7 Pg) in Alaska have never been mined.

http://www.answers.com/anthracite

23 posted on 11/05/2007 8:33:39 AM PST by trane250
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