Thar Coal Reserve

1. Location and Accessibility

Thar coalfield is approximately located between Latitudes 24¼15»N and 25¼45»N and Longitudes 69¼ 45»E and 70¼ 45»E in the southern part of Sindh Province in Pakistan opo-sheet Nos. 40 L/2,5 and 6. Based on available infrastructure and favourable geology, the Geological Survey of Pakistan selected four blocks near Islamkot for exploration and assessment of coal resources. The blocks with names, area and coordinates are given in Table-1. The area is accessible by a 410 kilometers metalled road form Karachi up to Islamkot via Hyderabad-Mirpur Khas- Naukot and Thatta-Badin-Mithi-Islamkot. Two more blocks were also explored by the Government of Sindh. A road network connecting all the major towns with Thar Coalfield have been developed. The rail link from Hyderabad is up to Naukot, which is about 100 kilometers from Islamkot.

2. Relief, Topography and Climate

Thar coalfield is a part of the Thar Desert of Pakistan and is the 9th largest desert of the world. It is bounded in the north, east and south by India, in the west by flood plains of the Indus River. The terrain is sandy and rough with sand dunes forming the topography. The relief in the area varies between near sea level to more than 150 meters AMSL. The climate is essentially that of an arid to semi arid region with scorching hot summers and relatively cold winters. It is one of the most densely populated deserts of the world with over 91 thousand inhabitants. The livelihood of the population is dependent on agriculture and livestock.

3. Water Resources

The area is a part of the desert where precipitation is very little with a high rate of evaporation. As such, limited water resources are of great significance.

a). Surface Water
The water is scanty and found in a few small ÒtaraisÓ and artificially dug depressions where rain water collects. These depressions generally consist of silty clay and caliche material.

b). Groundwater
The hydro-geological studies and drill hole geology shows the presence of three possible aquifer zones at varying depths: (i) above the coal zone (ii) within the coal zone and (iii) below the coal zone.

4. Coal

The coal beds of variable thickness ranging from 0.20 Ð 22.81 meters are developed. The maximum number of coal seams found in some of the drill holes is 20. The cumulative thickness of the coal beds range from 0.2 to 36 meters. Claystone invariabley forms the roof and the floor rock of the coal beds. The coal is brownish black, black and grayish black in colour. It is poorly to well cleared and compact. The quality of coal is better where percentage of clay is nominal.


5. Reserves

As a result of wide spread drilling over an area of 9000 km2, a total of 175 billion tons of coal resource potential has been assessed.

source www.sindhmines.gov.pk/