United States Department of the Interior U. S. Geological Survey ASSESSMENT OF THE COAL RESOURCES OF THE KYRGYZ REPUBLIC: COAL CHARACTER AND DISTRIBUTION, GEOLOGY, MINING, AND IMPORTANCE TO THE NATION'S FUTURE Open File Report 97-137A (English) PyccKHH nepeaoff -The Russian translation is Open File Report 97-137 B RUSSIA RUSSIA IRAN OIJEHKA PECYPCOB KAMEHHOFO PECIiyEJIHKH KblPFblSCTAH: , xapaKTepHCTHKH yrjm, ,n;o6i>iHa, pacnpe^ejienHe aanacoB H BaxHocTt npo6jieMBi TABLE OF CONTENTS I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................. OF-1 A. CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR ACTION ................. OF-1 B. BACKGROUND ............................................... OF-3 C. THIS STUDY ................................................. OF-4 D. THE COAL INDUSTRY AT PRESENT AND IN THE NEAR FUTURE ... OF-5 DL INTRODUCTION ................................................... OF-7 A. BACKGROUND ............................................... OF-7 B. SUMMARY OF FIELD ACTIVITIES .............................. OF-7 C. KYRGYZSTAN-THE LAND AND PEOPLE ....................... OF-9 D. COALREGIONSANDRESOURCESOFKYRGYZSTAN.............. OF-9 E. OTHER FOSSIL FUELS ........................................ OF-11 F. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ...................................... OF-12 ffl. COAL IN KYRGYZSTAN .......................................... OF-13 A. GEOLOGIC SETTING ......................................... OF-13 B. COAL REGIONS AND AREAS .................................. OF-15 1. Alay Coal Region ........................................ OF-15 2. South Fergana Coal Region ................................. OF-15 3. East Fergana Coal Region .................................. OF-15 4. North Fergana Coal Region ................................. OF-16 5. South-Central Coal Region ................................. OF-16 6. Kavak Coal Region ....................................... OF-17 7. Issyk-Kul Coal Region .................................... OF-18 8. Chu Coal Region ......................................... OF-18 C. RESOURCES AND RESERVES .................................. OF-18 1. Classification ........................................... OF-18 2. Coal availability ......................................... OF-21 3. Area and Region Reserve Estimates .......................... OF-23 D. PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS ................. OF-25 1. Chapter summary and the concept of coal quality ................ OF-25 a. Rank ............................................ OF-25 b. Heatyield ........................................ OF-25 c. Mineral and rock content, and ash fusion properties ......... OF-27 d. Organic type of coal ................................ OF-27 e. Sulfur and other inorganic elements ..................... OF-27 2. Data and samples of this study .............................. OF-28 a. Kinds of raw data included ........................... OF-28 b. Information not included ............................. OF-28 c. Source and nature of samples .......................... OF-29 3. General coal chemistry (USGS samples) ...................... OF-29 4. Coal rank / Organic maturation ............................. OF-29 a. Standard ASTM rank: Heat value and volatile matter ...... OF-29 b. USSR rank of coals sampled by the USGS ............... OF-35 c. Rank by elemental carbon, %Cdaf ...................... OF-35 d. Rank by vitrinite reflectance, %Ro ..................... OF-35 5. General proximate and ultimate data .......................... OF-35 6. Organic matter composition and type ......................... OF-45 a. Maceral composition (group analysis) ................... OF-45 b. Elemental H, C, N, O composition...................... OF-45 7. Sulfur ................................................. OF-48 8. Major, minor and trace elements (mainly in minerals)............. OF-56 a. Major and minor elements ............................ OF-56 b. Trace elements..................................... OF-59 c. Environmentally significant or volatile elements in whole coal OF-59 9. Technical character of coals ................................ OF-62 a. Heating value ...................................... OF-62 b. Ash fusion temperature (reducing / oxidizing) ............. OF-62 c. Hardgrove Grindability index ......................... OF-62 d. Free swelling index ................................. OF-68 10. Sources of additional similar data on Kyrgyz coals .............. OF-68 E. PAST AND PRESENT PRODUCTION, PRICING LEVEL ............. OF-69 1. Past and present production ................................. OF-69 2. Present and potential utilization .............................. OF-69 3. Coal pricing structure ..................................... OF-73 a. General .......................................... OF-73 b. Price of coal ...................................... OF-74 c. Coal Transportation Prices ............................ OF-75 IV. INFORMATION AVAILABILITY ................................... OF-76 V. ISSUES AND SUGGESTIONS ........................................ OF-78 A. GEOLOGIC FACTORS ........................................ OF-78 1. Issue 1.-Exploration and development......................... OF-78 2. Issue 2.-Economically recoverable reserves ..................... OF-79 3. Issue 3.-Available information .............................. OF-79 B. EXTRACTION FACTORS ...................................... OF-80 1. Issue 4.-Depleted or otherwise inviable mines ................... OF-80 2. Issue 5.-Mines suitable for rapid increase in production ........... OF-80 3. Issue 6.-Private (formerly Small) Enterprises Mining Program ...... OF-81 C. UTILIZATION FACTORS ...................................... OF-82 1. ISSUE 7.-Briquetting ..................................... OF-82 2. ISSUE 8.-Domestic (non-imported) coal for northern Kyrgyzstan .... OF-82 D. TRANSPORTATION FACTORS ................................. OF-83 1. Issue 9.-Inadequate infrastructure ............................ OF-83 11 E. COMBINED FACTORS ......................................... OF-84 1. Issue 10-Periodic Review ................................... OF-84 VL SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................... OF-85 VBL APPENDIXES .................................................. I-OF-93 L PRIVATE (SMALL) ENTERPRISE MINING PROGRAM .......... I-OF-93 A. SUMMARY ........................................... I-OF-93 B. BACKGROUND ....................................... I-OF-93 C. PRESENT ............................................ I-OF-93 D. NEEDS FOR PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT ................. I-OF-96 H. PRODUCTION OF SMOKELESS WHOLE-COAL BRIQUETTES IN THE KYRGYZ REPUBLIC ..................................... H-OF-97 a. PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT ........................... H-OF-97 INTRODUCTION .................................. II-OF-100 PREVIOUS WORK IN THE KYRGYZ REPUBLIC ........ II-OF-100 CURRENT WORK ON BENTONTTE-CLAY BINDERS .... II-OF-103 COAL AND BRIQUETTE QUALITY ................... II-OF-106 MARKETING CONSIDERATIONS .................... II-OF-113 OBSTACLES ...................................... II-OF-116 SUGGESTIONS ...................................... II - 117 b. AN ILLUSTRATIVE CONCEPT FOR AN ENTERPRISE ........ II - 118 INTRODUCTION .................................... II - 118 PRODUCTION SCALE ................................ H - 118 CAPITAL AND OPERATING COSTS .................... II - 120 CONSTRUCTION SCHEDULE ......................... II - 120 ENTERPRISE ORGANIZATION ........................ H - 127 PROBLEMS OF FIGURING ACTUAL COSTS ............. II- 128 ffl. DESCRIPTIONS OF SITE VISITS .......................... III-OF-129 a. Alay Coal Region ............................... III-OF-129 b. South Fergana Coal Region ........................ III-OF-129 c. East Fergana Coal Region ......................... III-OF-131 d. North Fergana Coal Region ........................ ffl-OF-132 e. KavakCoal Region .............................. III-OF-133 f. Issyk Kul Coal Region ............................ III-OF-134 IV. HISTORY OF COAL EXPLORATION - F. T. Kashirin ...... IV-OF-136 111 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1. The coal regions of Kyrgyzstan and railroads of the Former Soviet Union. .... OF-8 Figure 2. Coal areas and power plants visited by the assessment team in Kyrgyzstan. .. OF-10 Figure 3. Kyrgyzstan, showing the six political oblasts with their principal cities. ..... OF-10 Figure 4. Simplified vertical section of sedimentary basins and terrain south-to-north across Kyrgyzstan. ..................................................... OF-14 Figure 5. Relation of balance reserves and letter-designated reliability categories of the FSU (former Soviet Union) resource classification system to equivalents in the U.S. Geological Survey. ............................................... OF-20 Figure 6. Percentage of original resources of 11 quadrangles of the central Appalachian coal field, U.S.A., in different recoverable and nonrecoverable categories. ......... OF-22 Table 1. Estimated balance reserves in coal areas in Kyrgyzstan. ................. OF-24 Table 2. Kyrgyzstan coal reserves by type in developed and undeveloped areas. ...... OF-26 Table 3. Regional location, latitude-longitude, and name of sites sampled by the USGS in October, 1994. ................................................... OF-30 Figure 7. Equilibrium moisture in relation to as-received moisture of Kyrgyz coals sampled by the USGS. ...................................................... OF-31 Table 4. Basic chemistry of coals sampled by the USGS team in Kyrgyzstan. ....... OF-32 Table