The articles have been published in various newspapers and it was only right for me to start a separate blog that focuses on removing the misconceptions that these writers have created in the minds of the people.
First of all, Thar coal is minable – there is no question about that. Though I tend to agree that open-pit mining is expensive, international coal prices have recently risen to levels which justify such large investments. Even in an open-pit mining scenario, the net price of raw coal works out to less than $7 per million British thermal units (mmbtu), which is almost 35% of the price of residual fuel oil (the most commonly used fuel in Pakistan).
Secondly, Thar coalfields probably provide the most abundant hydrocarbon resource. Net minable reserves of the 10 blocks, covering around 1,000 square km, are around 30 billion tons. This is not a hypothesis and is based upon actual studies and drilling data.
Collectively, the 10 blocks can produce more than 100 million tons per annum of lignite coal which will be sufficient to generate 15,000 megawatts of electricity. In fact, the production capacity can easily be multiplied by a factor of five if incremental investments can be attracted to the mining of these blocks. The same coal can be briquetted and exported to consuming countries within the region.
Thirdly, Thar coal is of acceptable quality. Those who say that it is of bad quality do not know the business deeply. Net calorific value of Thar coal is around 11,000 kg which is acceptable internationally.
No one denies the high moisture content of Thar coal, but with the current state of technology the moisture can be significantly reduced by a drying process and its heating value will increase to around 19,000 kg which will make Thar coal equivalent to most coal qualities traded between Indonesia, China and India.
It is estimated that around 5,000MW of installed thermal capacity can be immediately converted from residual fuel oil to coal which will allow the mining of around 30 million tons of raw coal from Thar.
And lastly, coal gasification is a proven technology for small scale production and there is no technical reason as to why it cannot succeed on a medium to large scale. We should support those companies which are spending money and time to find a cost-effective way to extract coal energy from Thar. Any attempt otherwise will be counter-intuitive. However, this does not mean that open-pit mining is unviable.
There is no question or doubt that Thar coal is transportable and combustible. Yes, the coal is low in calorific value but that only means that it requires further processing to enhance the heating value.
We live in an age where natural fruits are available out of season with the same freshness of fresh fruits, and still we suspect that we may not be able to make coal transportable anywhere in the country. I am not proposing a fantasy; this is doable; all we need is positive thinking and hard work.
The writer is an engineer by training and chief executive officer of Sino Sindh Resources (Private) Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Global Mining China.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 13th, 2012.
COMMENTS (7)
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Very informative! Excellent approach using both qualitative and quant analysis. I have a financial question;sir how much do you think is the approx value of proven reserves, netting out the cost of doing business, initial and recurring, discounted over future resourceful life of reserves. Any idea or wild guess..?.Thanks!
Where there is a will there is a way. At the right price anything can be done. All the naysayers in my opinion are chicken (puck, puck...puck), either they do not want to open their minds to the possibilities or they are NO people always saying NO to new ideas. This is a challenge and any person with pride or courage should look at this problem and ask "Why NOT??" and the next one should be "Lets do it starting now!!". A person that always says no to new ideas and challenges will never get anywhere in life and will stop others from succeeding. the solutions is to find a way to make it beneficial for the population, the greedy politicians and the business community. Pakistan is suffering because of these "NO" people, at least if the electricity starts working reliably then other businesses will return, unemployment will decrease, education will increase, services will improve and people just might start having a more pleasant life.
loved ur article .....may ALLAH bless u ....awesome article <3....but i say the benefit and earning from it shud go ONLY to the poor thari people not karachi, not islamabad, nor other parts of sindh or punjab....do u know the human development index of thar is bearly 0.33 and decreasing not increasing like other parts of sindh.....if we convert coal to oil and gas and export it we can earn billions ........but if we connect thar to the arabian sea by far eastern parts of badin....wala we have a new dubai but alot needs to be done ! feeling sad abt the tharis ! :(
I am unaware of any open pit mining operation which has removed 90 meters of water sitting above the coal seem let alone the quantity of water which is suppose to sit within the Thar coal seam. Given the nature of underground water it maybe impossible to remove and anyone who thinks they can predetermine the actual cost of removal is dreaming. There is a reason that conversations concerning Thar Coal quickly revert to coal gasification which is still largely considered in the experimental stage. . The Thar Coal Project is what it is - for better or worse - lots of mediocre coal sitting in the middle of a desert covered by salt water and sand. Based on current technologies and the inherent instability of the region it's unlikely this project is going anywhere for some time. Another author wrote an article which spoke to a basic truth -- if this project were the gold mine that some try and conjure up it would have been build by now with no money needed by Pakistan.
i am 28 years old and i know in my lifetime Thar Coal will not provide even the smallest benefit/relief to this country. Not because of technical reasons or the quality of coal...but because of corruption, short-sigtedness, vested interests, and mostly because the powers-that-be in this country for the last 30 years have not yet figured out a way to fully pillage Thar and line their pockets...take a look at the Riko-diq project...
I fully commend the clarifications needed in connction with viability of Thar Coal. I may add
further that Thar Coal was identified back in 1992 and still boubts about its usefulness or
otherwise have not yet been determined.This reflecls that we lack in innovations very
much. Leg pulling on this national issue is totally unacceptable. We must open our eyes
like Engr. Ch. Abdul Qayyum and resolve these petty problems like presence of moisture
in Thar Coal.We must encouage each other in combating these minor issues. I request all
stakeholders that this giant project must be made successful without wasting any futher
time.
If we mine thar coal, kickbacks from IPPs to politicians will decrease.