Long-term Availability

There is little controversy concerning the world s large and widely distributed coal resources. The earliest attempt, in 1913, to survey and report on global resources for consideration at the 12th International Geological Congress in Toronto lacked adequate geographical cover and standardised criteria for measurements. Nevertheless, in spite of these limitations, it still provided the main basis for the subsequent effort in 1936, for the 1st World Power Conference in London, to systematise and update the evaluation of the world s coal wealth. This evaluation indicated a total of 8,166 x 10 ⁹ tons of likely recoverable resources excluding a claim for additional resources in China of roughly the same magnitude. The regional breakdown of the data is shown in Table 2.1. In this the domination of the coal resources of North America and Europe (including Russia) stands out clearly. The data of that time reflected, of course, the continuing importance of these two continents in the global coal exploration and exploitation process: with this, in turn, reflecting the concentration of coal use (and hence of interest in coal reserves) in the two regions.