DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Introducing coal-water-mix fuels to the Philippines Assessment of project feasibility Volume 1 - The Philippine coal resource by !/ 2!/ 2/ E. R. Landis, M. D. Carter, and J. H. MedlTn Open-File Report Report prepared for National Economic and Development Authority, Republic of the Philippines on behalf of the National Power Corporation, Development Bank of the Philippines under the auspices of the Office of Energy, U.S. Agency for International Development. This report is preliminary and has not been reviewed for conformity with U.S. Geological Survey editorial standards and stratigraphic nomenclature, I/ U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, CO Jj U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA 1985 FRONTISPIECE _____ ito f 12 0 Treaty limits of the Philippines PHILIPPINES PHILIPPIC CATANDUANES ISLAND MIMDANAO MALAYSIA CELEBES SEA Treaty limits of the Philippines L»'.' 'ssi'S.c-.s A (lnden«*io 1 / Index map of the Philippine Islands CONTENTS PREFACE.................................................. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS......................................... iv 1.0 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS............................. 1 2.0 COAL RESOURCES OF THE PHILIPPINES................... 4 2.1 Introduction.............'...................... 4 2.2 Geologic Setting............................... 6 2.3 Quanti ty....................................... 7 2.4 Quality........................................ 13 2.4.1 Philippine coals........................ 13 2.4.2 Coal from Seinrirara..................... 15 2.4.3 Coals from Sibuguey Peninsula, Mindoro, and Samar.................... 20 3.0 EXPLORATION AND DEVELOPMENT NEEDS................... 22 3.1 History of exploration-and-mining.............. 22 3.2 General..............................T.*....... 24 3.3 Semirara....................................... 25 3.4 Sibuguey Peninsula............................. 25 3.5 South Mindoro.................................. 26 3.6 Southeast Samar................................ 26 SELECTED REFERENCES...................................... 27 APPENDIXES....................................follow page 27 A- Coal in Semirara, Philippines B- Coal in the Sibuguey Peninsula, Philippines C- Coal in South Mindoro, Philippines D- Coal in Southeast Samar, Philippines E- Coal Classification Terminology F- August 1984 Data Base for Selection of Coal Resources ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1. Known and reported coal areas................. 5 2. Coal Districts................................ 8 CONTENTS (cont.) Page TABLES Table 1. Philippine Coal Districts...................... 9 2. Classification and reserves of Philippine coal. 10 3. Philippine proven coal reserves by category.... 11 4. Resource Potential of CWM Study Areas.......... 12 5. Summary of coal quality........................ 14 6. Analyses of Coal Ash; 16 Philippine Samples.... 16 7. Comparison of 19 Recent Samples From Semirara (weight percent means)............._.......... 17 8. Summary of analyses of Semirara coal shipped to National Power Corporation during 1984....... 19 ii PREFACE Involvement of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) in the project to introduce coal-water-mix (CWM) fuel into the Philippines began actively in June 1984 when samples of coal from five different areas in the Philippines were received from Brookhaven National Laboratory. The five samples were collected in a prescribed standardized manner by personnel of the Economic Development Foundation, Inc., of Manila in order to allow preliminary decisions about potential sources of indigenous coal for use in CWM fuels. At a meeting of all project participants in August, decisions included plans for collection and evaluation of information about the quantity and quality of Philippine coals. This volume is the result of field, office, and laboratory work during the period August 1984-March 1985 by a large number of research and support personnel of the USGS in Reston, Virginia, and Denver, Colorado. The USGS personnel who performed the project work described in this volume are M. D. Carter, J. H.. Medlin, and the team leader, E. R. Landis. Review and editing of reports and coordination of activities with the Office of Energy in the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), under whose auspices the investigations were done, were the the tasks of M. J. Bergin. An executive summary and overview and volumes II through V, which have been prepared by other agencies and contractors involved with the coal-water-mix fuel feasibility study in the Philippines, are available through the agency for International Development library system. These include: Executive summary and overview by the Agency for International Development Volume II - Formulation of CWM-fuel from Philippine coals by the Brookhaven National Laboratory Volume III - Power plant retrofit and performance by Burns and Roe, Inc. Volume IV - The CWM-fuel supply system by Burns and Roe, Inc. and Development Sciences, Inc. Volume V - Financial and economic analysis by Development Sciences, Inc. TM ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS From the very beginning, the project to introduce coal-water-mix (CWM) fuels to the Philippines has required and successfully demonstrated close cooperation among all participants. Leadership of the various participating groups has been uniformly excellent, and Purita M. Festin of the Economic Development Foundation (EOF) of the Philippines, Thomas E. O'Hare and Thomas Butcher of Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Morton Gorden of Development Sciences, Inc. (DSI), and Egon A. Kimel of Burns and Roe, Inc. (B&R) deserve special thanks. In particular, the patient and understanding overall leadership of Charles Bliss of the Office of Energy, USAID, is appreciated. Our part in the project would not have been possible without the continuing and valuable assistance of Richard Stevenson of USAID/Manila and Rufino B. Bomasang of the Bureau of Energy Development (BED) of the Philippines. Our field and office work in the Philippines would not have been possible without the cooperation and help of Juan Molina of EOF, George B. Baquiran of Semirara Coal Company, Arturo M. Mori and Honesto Espirito of BED, Jose Jovellanos, A. T. Galvez, M. C. Avendano, and G. V. Favor of National Power Corporation (NPC), F. F. Cruz ancF R-. F. Cruz, Jr., of F. F. Cruz and Co., Inc., A. C. Lazo of Austrofil Commerce, Inc., J. R. Castro, Rafael Liwanag, S. R. Redoblado, N. C. Pimental and A. P. Sabalburo of Marinduque Mining and Industrial Corp., Armando Jara, N. B. Lucas, J. C. Palma, Jr., and J. P. Manalo of Malangas Coal Corporation, Juanito C. Fernandez, G. R. Balce, and Constante Belandres of the Philippine Bureau of Mines and Geosciences, and Teodoro M. Santos and Amelia Guevara of the University of the Philippines. Our special thanks must go to Gil C. Guevara of EOF for guidance and assistance while we worked in the Philippines. iv INTRODUCING COAL-WATER-MIX FUELS TO THE PHILIPPINES ASSESSMENT OF PROJECT FEASJBILITY VOLUME 1 - THE PHILIPPINE COAL RESOURCE 1.0 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS The estimated coal resource potential of the Philippines is 1,600 to 1,700 million metric tons with nearly 200. million tons in the mineable reserve category. The four areas studied as part of the CWM-fuel project represent about 40 percent of the estimated national resources. The four estimates are (in millions of metric tons): Resource potential Mineable reserves Semirara "550 79 Sibuguey Peninsula 45 or 50 10 or 11 South Mindoro 100 2.4 Samar 27 _ 6.3 More than 40 percent of the mineable res.erves have been estimated for the Island of Semirara by detailed exploration in preparation for present and future open-pit mining. By comparison, the combined estimated mineable reserves of the South Mindoro area, the Sibuguey Peninsula (La!at and Malangas areas), and the Samar-Leyte area are less than 15 percent of the total estimated mineable reserves of the Philippines. Compared to Semirara, these three other regions range from only partly explored the Sibuguey Peninsula to essentially unexplored South Mindoro and Samar. In all casas, the quality variations for_the coal included in the cited estimated mineable reserves are uncertain. Two resource figures, both dated 1984, are available for the Sibuguey Peninsula, but neither may include very recent estimates for the Lalat area, which, when reassessed, might increase the'mineable reserve figure by about 7 million tons. The estimate for Samar may-aat_Jnclude very recent estimates for the Carbon Creek area, which could increase the mineable reserve estimates as much as 5 million tons* All the estimates, except that for Semirara^ are conservative* The coals of the Philippines range in rank from lignitic to bituminous with the bulk categorized as subbituminous C and B. They range in grade from low (1 percent, or less) to high (more than 3 percent) sulfur, and low (less than 8 percent) to high (more than 15 percent) ash. The Semirara coal, as recently shipped to Luzon for power generation and other uses, such as cement manufacture, has the following quality characteristics in weight percent and heat value in Btu/lb: As-received Air-dried Mean Range Mean Range Moisture . 25.7 23-29 17.6 15-20 Ash 16.4 12-21 17.5 14-22 Volatile matter 29.3 24-31 33.7 31-36 Fixed carbon 27.8 24-31 31.2 27-35 Sulfur 0.5 0.4-0.6 0.6 0.5-0.7 Heat value (Btu/lb). 7138 '6627-7630 7981 7232-8679 The weighted arithmetic means of analyses of 22 shipments of Semirara coal received by the National Power Corporation (NPC) in 1984 are similar to the above-cited analytical means. Semirara coal with much less ash and with higher heat value than cited in the above table is represented by two recent analyses; one from a sample collected early in the CWM fuel study from a coal bed exposed in the Unong mine, the other from a sample of a 1,000-ton shipment of "selected Semirara coal" sent to the Calaca generating plant in February 1984. These two samples show 9 and 6 percent ash, and 8,209 and 8,547 Btu/lb, respectively. Both have 26 percent moisture on the as-received basis. The Semirara coal quality assumed for design purposes in the CWM fuel study is as follows on the as-received basis: 24 percent moisture, 14 percent ash, 33 percent volatile matter, and 7,507 Btu/lb heat value.