Availability of the Danville, Jamestown, Dekoven, Davis, and Seelyville Coals for Mining in Selected Areas of Illinois

IM 124

Availability of the Danville, Jamestown,Dekoven, Davis, and Seelyville Coalsfor Mining in Selected Areas of Illinois

Christopher P. Korose, Colin G. Treworgy, Russell J. Jacobson, and Scott D. Elrick

Illinois Minerals 124 2002

George H. Ryan, Governor

Department of Natural ResourcesBrent Manning, Director

ILLINOIS STATE GEOLOGICAL SURVEYWilliam W. Shilts, Chief

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Cover photo: Surface mining the Dekoven and Davis Coals at Jader Coal Company’s No. 4 Mine

Editorial Board

Jonathan H. Goodwin, Chair

Michael L. Barnhardt David R. LarsonB. Brandon Curry John H. McBrideAnne L. Erdmann Donald G. Mikulic

William R. Roy

Illinois Minerals 124 2002

George H. Ryan, Governor

Department of Natural ResourcesBrent Manning, Director

ILLINOIS STATE GEOLOGICAL SURVEYWilliam W. Shilts, Chief615 E. Peabody DriveChampaign, Illinois 61820-6964217-333-4747http://www.isgs.uiuc.edu

Availability of the Danville, Jamestown,Dekoven, Davis, and Seelyville Coalsfor Mining in Selected Areas of Illinois

Christopher P. Korose, Colin G. Treworgy, Russell J. Jacobson, and Scott D. Elrick

ACKNOWLEDGMENTSWe are especially appreciative to the following mining experts who gave us information on criteriathat limit the availability of coal: Manny Efframian, Tom McCarthy, David Johnson, George Martin,James Niemeyer, and Monna Nemecek of AMAX Coal Company; Greg Bieri and Philip Deaton ofArch Minerals; Dan Pilcher of Arclar Coal Company; Philip Ames, Bruce Dausman, ChristopherEngleman, and Christopher Padavic of Black Beauty Coal Company; Brent Dodrill, James Hinz,Edward Settle, and Randy Stockdale of Consolidation Coal Company; S.N. Ghose, Dana Meyers,Marvin Thompson, and John Williams of Cyprus-AMAX Coal Company; Michael Caldwell, NeilMerryfield and Roger Nance of Freeman United Coal Mining Company; Dan Ganey and ThomasDenton of Kerr-McGee Coal Company; Alan Kern, Michael Meighan, and John Popp of MAPCOCoal Inc.; James Grimm of Midstate Coal Company; Jeffrey Padgett of Monterey Coal Company;Eric Quam of Old Ben Coal Company; Michael Anderson, Vick Daiber, Marc Silverman, and GradyWhite of Peabody Coal Company; Robert Gullic and Walter Lucus of Sahara Coal Company; SteveShort and Dennis Oliver of Sugar Camp Coal Company; Guy Hunt of Turris Coal Company;Douglas Dwosh, Kenneth Ginard, and David Thomas of Weir International Mining Consultants;Daniel Barkley, Dean Spindler, and Scott Fowler of the Illinois Office of Mines and Minerals; andRobert Bauer of the Illinois State Geological Survey.

This project was supported by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Department of the Interior,under the following agreements: 14-08-0001-A0773, 14-08-0001-A0841, 1434-92-A0940, 1434-93-A1137, 14-94-A1266, 1434-95-A01346, 1434-HQ96AG-01460, 1434-HQ97AG-01759, 1434-98HQAG-2015, 1434-99HQAG-0081, and 1434-00HQAG-0165.

We especially thank Harold J. Gluskoter and M. Devereux Carter of the USGS and HeinzDamberger of the Illinois State Geological Survey (ISGS) for their guidance and support. This studyutilized a number of databases compiled over many years by the ISGS Coal Section staff members.Valerie Straayer assisted with the mapping of the Danville, Dekoven, and Davis Coals. MargaretBargh and Melisa Borino updated the mined areas. Cheri Chenoweth assisted with compilingproduction statistics. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of theauthors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies, eitherexpressed or implied, of the U.S. Government.

Contents

Acknowledgments ii

Executive Summary 1

Introduction 3

Coal Resource Classification System 3Sources of Data, Limitations, and Mapping Procedure 3Geology and Mining of the Coals 4

Danville Coal 4Jamestown Coal 5Dekoven Coal 8Interval between the Dekoven and Davis Coals 15Davis Coal 15Seelyville Coal 15

Coal Quality 21Rank 21Sulfur 21Chlorine 21

Quadrangle Studies 24

Technological and Land-Use Factors that Affect the Availability of Coal for Mining 25

Available Resources 27Danville Coal 27Jamestown Coal 33Dekoven Coal 33Davis Coal 33Surface Mining of the Dekoven and Davis Coals 33Seelyville Coal 38

Conclusions 38

References 39

Appendixes1 Remaining resources by county and availability by mining method 412 Source maps for coal resources 43

Tables1 Availability of the Danville, Jamestown, Dekoven, Davis, and Seelyville Coals for

mining in selected areas of Illinois 2

2 Variation in names of some major coal seams in the Illinois Basin 5

3 Criteria used to define resources available for surface mining in this study 24

4 Criteria used to define resources available for underground mining in this study 25

5 Availability of the Danville Coal by thickness category 28

6 Availability of the Jamestown, Dekoven, Davis, and Seelyville Coals for mining, bythickness category 28

7 Resources of the Dekoven and Davis Coals available for surface mining 33

Figures1 Extent of the Pennsylvanian System in the Illinois Basin 4

2 North-south cross section of the Pennsylvanian System in Illinois 4

3 General stratigraphic position of coals mentioned in this report 5

4 Thickness of the Danville Coal 6

5 Depth of the Danville Coal 7

6 Annual production of the Danville Coal in Illinois 8

7 Location of sandstone channels above the Danville Coal 9

8 Thickness of the Jamestown Coal 10

9 Depth of the Jamestown Coal 11

10 Thickness of the Dekoven Coal 12

11 Depth of the Dekoven Coal 13

12 Selected structural features in southeastern Illinois 14

13 Thickness of the interval between the Dekoven and Davis Coals 16

14 Thickness of the Davis Coal 17

15 Depth of the Davis Coal 18

16 Thickness of the Seelyville Coal 19

17 Depth of the Seelyville Coal 20

18 Sulfur content of the Danville Coal 22

19 Chlorine content of the Herrin Coal 23

20 Quadrangle study areas used to identify coal available for mining 26

21 Availability of the Danville Coal for mining in Illinois 27

22 Areas of the Danville Coal available for underground mining 29

23 Areas of the Danville Coal available for surface mining 30

24 Availability of the Jamestown, Dekoven, Davis, and Seelyville Coalsfor mining in Illinois 31

25 Areas of the Jamestown Coal available for underground mining 32

26 Areas of the Dekoven Coal available for underground mining 34

27 Areas of the Davis Coal available for underground mining. 35

28 Areas of the Dekoven and Davis Coals available for surface mining 36

29 Areas of the Seelyville Coal available for underground mining 37

30 Availability of coal resources by seam 38

Illinois State Geological Survey Illinois Minerals 124 11111

Executive SummaryThe Danville, Jamestown, Dekoven,Davis, and Seelyville Coals, as mappedin this study, collectively make upabout 23% (48 billion tons) of Illinois’original coal resources. However, lessthan 1% of the original resources ofthese five seams has been mined.These coal beds are typically thinnerand/or deeper than the more exten-sively mined Herrin and SpringfieldCoals (Treworgy et al. 1999a, 2000).The remaining resources of these fiveseams include 3.6 billion tons ofDanville Coal that is thought to have amedium- to low-sulfur content. Thedegree to which these coal resourcesare utilized in the future depends onthe availability of deposits that can bemined at a cost competitive withother coals and alternative fuels. Thisreport identifies those resources thathave the most favorable geologic andland-use characteristics for miningand alerts mining companies to geo-logic conditions that have the poten-tial for negative impacts on miningcosts.

Of all five coals included in this study,a total of approximately 17 billion tonsare available for mining. “Available”means that the surface land-use andgeologic conditions related to miningthe deposit (e.g., thickness, depth, in-place tonnage, and stability of bed-rock overburden) are comparablewith those of other coals currently be-ing mined in the state.

An additional 1.3 billion tons are avail-able with potential restrictions thatmake these five coals less desirable formining, such as the presence ofclosely spaced oil wells or close prox-imity to rapidly developing urbanareas. Technological factors (geologicconditions and economic parameterssuch as size of reserve block) are themajor restriction to mining and re-strict 56% of these combined re-sources. Land-use factors (e.g., townsand highways) restrict 6% of these re-sources. The original resources of thefive seams studied in this report indi-vidually range from 3.6 billion to 19.6billion tons; however, the respectiveavailability of these coals for miningdoes not correlate to the tonnage oftheir original resources (table 1). The

seams are discussed in descendingstratigraphic order.

The Danville Coal is the third-largestresource (19.6 billion tons) of all coalseams in the state, but only 23% (4.5billion tons) is available for mining.The majority of the available Danvilleresources (4.2 billion tons) is availablefor mining by underground methods,and an additional 300 million tons areavailable but with potential restric-tions. Approximately 360 million tonsare available by surface mining meth-ods. Of the total amount of availableDanville Coal, approximately 1.2 bil-lion tons have a medium- to low-sul-fur content. Technological factors re-strict 69% (13.5 billion tons) of theDanville resources, and land-use fac-tors restrict 6% (1.1 billion tons).

The Jamestown Coal constitutes theeighth-largest resource (3.6 billiontons) of all seams in the state and isavailable only for underground min-ing. A total of 26% of the resources(about 1 billion tons) is available formining; 100 million of these tons arepotentially restricted by numerous oilwells. Technological factors restrict62% of the resources, and land-usefactors restrict 10%.

The Dekoven Coal is the seventh-larg-est resource of all the coal seams inthe state, but only 5% (300 milliontons) are available for mining. Twohundred million tons of these areavailable by underground miningmethods. Just over 100 million tons ofthe Dekoven Coal are available by sur-face mining methods, when mined incombination with the underlyingDavis Coal. Technological factorsrestrict 89% of the Dekoven Coalresources, and land-use factors re-strict 4%.

The Davis Coal ranks sixth among thestate’s coal seams in terms of total re-sources (9.6 billion tons), and 49% ofthis amount (4.7 billion tons) is avail-able for mining. Of the available coal,4.6 billion tons are available by under-ground methods; an additional 500million tons are available but with po-tential restrictions. Only about 100million tons of the Davis Coal areavailable by surface mining methods,when mined in combination with the

overlying Dekoven Coal. Technologi-cal factors restrict 41% of the DavisCoal, and land-use factors restrict 4%.Restrictions to surface mining of theDekoven and Davis Coals include highstripping ratios and unfavorable driftthickness.

The Seelyville Coal is the fifth-largestresource (9.7 billion tons) of all seamsin the state: 6.7 billion tons (69% of itsoriginal resources) are available formining. An additional 300 million tonsare available with potential restric-tions. The Seelyville Coal is only avail-able by underground mining meth-ods, and major restrictions to miningare the numerous partings within thecoal and areas heavily drilled for oil.

Whether or not these coal resourcesare ultimately mined is still dependentupon a variety of other factors thatare beyond the scope of this study toassess, including the willingness of lo-cal landowners to lease the coal, de-mand for a particular quality of coal,accessibility of transportation infra-structure, proximity of the deposit tomarkets, and cost and availability ofcompeting fuels. To avoid high miningcosts resulting from unfavorable geo-logic conditions, companies shouldavoid areas of thick drift and thin bed-rock cover, areas with sandstone inthe immediate mine roof, large areasof excessive partings in the coal, andfaulted areas. Areas with low-cost,surface-minable resources are limitedand will support only small, short-term operations.

This report is the third of a series thatexplains the availability of coal in Illi-nois for future mining. Previous re-ports assessing the availability of theSpringfield and Herrin Coals(Treworgy et al. 1999a, 2000) containimportant background informationexplaining the criteria used in this re-port to identify available coal. Thesestatewide assessments of coal re-sources are based on earlier reportsthat assessed the availability of coal in21 study areas. The study areas were7.5-minute quadrangles that are rep-resentative of mining conditionsfound in various parts of the state.Coal resources and related geologywere mapped in these study areas,and the factors that restricted the

22222 Illinois Minerals 124 Illinois State Geological Survey

Table 1 Availability of the Danville, Jamestown, Dekoven, Davis, and Seelyville Coals for mining in se-lected areas of Illinois (billions of tons). See appendix 1 for a listing of results by county.

Potential mining method1 Sulfur (lb./106 BTU)

Total Surface Underground <1.67 >1.67

Danville CoalOriginal 19.6 4.4 18 3.6 16.0Mined 0.2 (1)2 0.1 (3) 0.1 (1) 0.0 0.2 (1)Remaining 19.4 (99) 4.3 (97) 17.9 (99) 3.6 (100) 15.8 (99)

Available 4.5 (23) 0.4 (8) 4.2 (23) 1.2 (33) 3.3 (21)Available with conditions 0.3 (1) < 0.1 (0) 0.3 (2) 0.1 (3) 0.2 (1)Technological restrictions 13.5 (69) 3.2 (74) 12.5 (69) 2.1 (59) 11.4 (71)Land-use restrictions 1.1 (6) 0.7 (15) 0.9 (5) 0.2 (5) 0.9 (6)

Jamestown CoalOriginal 3.6 < 0.1 3.6 *3

Mined 0.0 0.0 0.0Remaining 3.6 (100) < 0.1 3.6 (100)

Available 0.9 (26) 0.0 0.9 (26)Available with conditions 0.1 (2) 0.0 0.1 (2)Technological restrictions 2.2 (62) < 0.1 (100) 2.2 (62)Land-use restrictions 0.4 (10) 0.0 0.4 (10)

Dekoven CoalOriginal 6.0 0.2 5.9 *Mined 0.1 (1) < 0.1 (20) < 0.1 (<1)Remaining 5.9 (99) 0.2 (80) 5.9 (100)

Available 0.3 (5) 0.1 (75) 0.2 (4)Available with conditions 0.1 (1) 0.0 < 0.1 (<1)Technological restrictions 5.3 (89) < 0.1 (4) 5.4 (92)Land-use restrictions 0.2 (4) < 0.1 (1) 0.2 (4)

Davis CoalOriginal 9.6 0.2 9.6 *Mined < 0.1 (1) < 0.1 (18) < 0.1 (1)Remaining 9.5 (99) 0.2 (82) 9.5 (99)

Available 4.7 (49) 0.1 (73) 4.6 (48)Available with conditions 0.5 (5) 0 0.5 (5)Technological restrictions 3.9 (41) < 0.1 (8) 4.0 (42)Land-use restrictions 0.4 (4) < 0.1 (1) 0.4 (4)

Seelyville CoalOriginal 9.7 –4 9.7 *Mined < 0.1 (<1) < 0.1 (<1)Remaining 9.7 (100) 9.7 (100)

Available 6.7 (69) 6.7 (69)Available with conditions 0.3 (3) 0.3 (3)Technological restrictions 2.1 (22) 2.1 (22)Land-use restrictions 0.6 (6) 0.6 (6)

1 Note: surface and underground resources do not add to the total because coal that lies between 75 and 200 feetdeep is included in both categories.

2 Numbers in parentheses are percent of original resources.3 Asterisk indicates that available information is not sufficient to categorize resources by sulfur content.4 All of the Seelyville Coal resources lie greater than 200 feet deep and thus were evaluated for underground miningonly.


availability of coal in the quadrangleswere identified through interviews withmore than 40 mining engineers, geolo-gists, and other mining specialists rep-

resenting 17 mining companies, con-sulting firms, and government agenciesexperienced in mining Illinois coals.The major restrictions identified in

these individual study areas were usedfor the statewide assessments of theavailability of coals for mining.

IntroductionThis report is the third in a series thatassesses the availability of coal re-sources for future mining in Illinoisand is patterned after earlier assess-ments. The reader is referred toTreworgy et al. (1999a, 2000) for detailson the background of the project andthe general criteria used to define re-sources available for mining.

Coal ResourceClassification SystemThe Illinois State Geological Survey(ISGS) follows the terms and defini-tions of the U.S. Geological Survey(USGS) coal resource classification sys-tem (Wood et al. 1983). With minormodifications to suit local conditions,these definitions provide a standard-ized basis for compilations and com-parisons of nationwide coal resourcesand reserves.

The term “original resources” refers tothe amount of coal originally in theground prior to any mining. In this re-port, the ISGS defines “surface minablecoal” as all coal in the ground that is 18or more inches thick and lies less than200 feet deep, whereas “undergroundminable coal” is all coal 28 or moreinches thick and lying 75 or more feetdeep. Coal 28 or more inches thick andlying from 75 to 200 feet in depth isconsidered in calculations as beingboth surface minable and under-ground minable.

In recent years, the USGS has pro-moted the idea of further defining thecharacteristics of resources by dividingremaining resources into two catego-ries: restricted and available (Egglestonet al. 1990). Restricted resources arethose that have some land-use or tech-nological restriction that makes it un-likely they will be mined in the foresee-able future. Land-use restrictions in-clude manmade or natural featuresthat are illegal or impractical to disturbby mining. Technological restrictions

include geologic or mining-related fac-tors that negatively impact the eco-nomics or safety of mining. Resourcesin the available category are not neces-sarily economically minable at thepresent time, but these deposits areexpected to have mining conditionscomparable with those currently beingmined. Determining the actual costand profitability of these deposits re-quires further engineering and mar-keting assessments and site-specificstudies.

This study follows the USGS exampleof dividing resources into categories ofavailable and restricted. The ISGS alsouses an additional category called“available with potential restrictions.”This term is used to designate re-sources that are not restricted by theland-use or technological restrictions,but that have some known special con-dition that makes them less favorablefor mining. Close proximity to rapidlydeveloping urban areas, the presenceof a relatively high density of oil wellsor test holes, and potentially unstableroof conditions are examples of poten-tial restrictions that have resulted in re-sources being placed in this category.In this study, therefore, remaining re-sources = resources restricted by landuse + resources restricted by technol-ogy + resources available with potentialrestrictions + available resources.

The USGS classification system usesthe terms “measured,” “indicated,” and“inferred” to indicate the reliability ofresource estimates based on the typeand density of data (Wood et al. 1983).The ISGS uses similar categories, whichin previous reports have been calledClass Ia, Class Ib, and Class IIa(Treworgy et al. 1997b). Because theseearlier ISGS categories are essentiallyequivalent to the USGS categories, theUSGS terminology defined by Wood etal. (1983) is used in this report. Collec-tively, the resources in these three cat-egories are termed “identified resources”to distinguish them from resourcesbased on less reliable estimates.

Sources of Data, Limitations,and Mapping ProcedureResources of the five coals covered bythis report have been mapped by anumber of previous studies (appendix2). The maps used for this study werecompiled from data obtained from avariety of public and private sources:drilling logs, core descriptions, andgeophysical logs obtained from com-panies and descriptions of mine andoutcrop exposures made by ISGS ge-ologists. The maps have varying de-grees of completeness and accuracy,are designed for a regional assessment,and have a scale of 1:500,000. Featuresor details of features smaller thanabout 0.5-mile across may not be ac-curately portrayed or may be omittedaltogether.

The coal resource maps used for thisstudy are in digital format, which facili-tates map updates, revisions, and ac-cessibility adjustments. When the origi-nal paper maps were digitized into acommon digital map database, adjust-ments were commonly necessary inareas where two studies met or over-lapped. Past ISGS studies describe indetail the process of constructing digi-tal coal resource base maps from origi-nal paper sources, and the resultingnecessary adjustments made to certainmap areas and, therefore, coal tonnagecalculations (Treworgy 1997b,Treworgy and Bargh 1982).

For this study, resources of the Davisand Dekoven Coals were revised ornewly mapped in five counties, and theDanville Coal was newly mapped intwo counties utilizing data acquiredsince the previous investigations. Mi-nor corrections and revisions weremade in a number of other counties.New mapping was prioritized in areaswhere the coals were thought to be ofminable thickness and where the den-sity of available coal test data was thegreatest. For the Dekoven and DavisCoals, geophysical logs spaced at ap-proximately 3 miles were used in the


northern third of the study area tosupplement sparse or nonexistent coaltest drilling data, and mapping was ex-tended up to 2 miles beyond any givendata point. Mined areas were updatedto January 1, 2000, by using maps ob-tained from coal companies.

Geology and Miningof the CoalsThe coal-bearing rocks of Illinois weredeposited during the PennsylvanianPeriod approximately 295 to 325 mil-lion years ago (Haq and Van Eysinga1998). The strata of the PennsylvanianSystem underlie about two-thirds of

Figure 1 Extent of the Pennsylvanian Sys-tem in the Illinois Basin (modified fromTreworgy et al. 2000).

0

500

-500

-1,000

-1,500

-2,000

Ele

vatio

n (f

eet)

N S

Colchester Coal

Springfield Coal

Top of bedr ock

Carthage Limeston eDanville Coal

Base of Pennsylvanian

0 25 Miles

Quaternary SystemPennsylvanian System

Davis Coal

N

S

Well locations

Herrin Coal

Colchester Coal

the state. Only the northern fourth ofIllinois and narrow belts along the Mis-sissippi, Ohio, and Illinois Rivers haveno Pennsylvanian rocks. The coal-bearing strata of Illinois extend intosouthwestern Indiana and westernKentucky as a single continuous coalfield known as the Illinois Basin orEastern Interior Coal Field (fig.1).

Within the Pennsylvanian strata, coalseams are present as part of cyclic rocksequences called cyclothems— ofwhich a succession of sandstone, shale,limestone, and coal units mark theshifting ancient shoreline environmentduring a complete cycle of marine in-vasion and retreat (Jacobson 1973).The seams are not evenly distributedover the approximately 3,000-foot-thick sequence of coal-bearing rocks inIllinois, and most occur in the middleof the Pennsylvanian sequence. ThesePennsylvanian coals are continuousover large areas, and they generallycrop out along the margins of the basin(fig. 2), although the thickness of anyparticular seam may be quite variable.

Dozens of coal seams have been minedcommercially in Illinois, but only someare important in terms of past andpresent production. These economi-cally important seams are included in

figure 3; in order of geologic age thesemajor seams in Illinois are the Danville(youngest), Herrin, Springfield,Colchester, Seelyville, Dekoven, andDavis Coals. Some of the coals in theIllinois Basin can be correlated acrossstate boundaries; however, the namesof these coals are subject to changefrom one state to another (table 2).

In Illinois, the five coals discussed inthis report are typically thinner and/ordeeper than the more extensivelymined Herrin and Springfield Coalsthat were described previously(Treworgy et al. 1999a, 2000). However,ample resources of these five coals re-main, and their presence in selectedareas of the state is discussed herein.

Danville Coal The 19.6 billion tons ofDanville Coal resources are the thirdlargest in the state and constitute about9% of the total coal resources. TheDanville Coal Member of the ShelburnFormation can be traced throughouttwo-thirds of the state of Illinois, al-though the coal exceeds 42 inches inthickness (the minimum thickness forcoal seams available for undergroundmining) primarily in a narrow bandalong the eastern and northern edgesof the coal field (fig. 4). Resources ofthe Danville Coal were mapped by

Figure 2 North-south cross section of the Pennsylvanian System in Illinois (from Treworgy et al. 2000). The Seelyville Coal is not in-cluded in this cross section.


Table 2 Variation in names of some major coal seams in theIllinois Basin (Jacobson et al. 1985, Shaver et al. 1986, Greb etal. 1992).

Illinois Indiana Western Kentucky

Danville (No. 7) Danville (VII) WheatcroftJamestown Hymera (VI) Paradise (No. 12)Herrin (No. 6) Herrin Herrin (No. 11)Springfield (No. 5) Springfield (V) Springfield (No. 9)Colchester (No. 2) Colchester(IIIa) ColchesterSeelyville Seelyville (III)Dekoven Dekoven Dekoven (No. 7)Davis Davis Davis (No. 6)

previous studies along this band and inscattered areas of southern, central,and northwestern Illinois (appendix 2),and for this study in Douglas andMc Lean Counties using coal test drill-ing data acquired since the earlierinvestigations. Elsewhere the coal isprobably too thin to be of economicinterest. The Danville Coal is theyoungest of the five coals covered bythis report (fig. 3). The coal crops outalong the margins of the Illinois Basinand reaches a maximum depth insoutheastern Illinois of about 1,300 feet(fig. 5).

The Danville Coal has been mined inIllinois for over 100 years (fig. 6), butonly about 1% of the original resourceshas been depleted. The most extensivearea of mining was in east-central Illi-nois near the city of Danville where thecoal has been mined by both surfaceand underground methods. The coalwas also mined by underground meth-ods at scattered localities in the north-ern part of the state (Colfax andChenoa in Mc Lean County; Fairbury,Pontiac, and Streator in LivingstonCounty; and several locations inLa Salle and Bureau Counties) and hasbeen surface mined at a number of lo-

Figure 3 General stratigraphic position ofcoals mentioned in this report (bold type).Coals are shown in order of geologic age(youngest seam at top). Formal nomencla-ture is from Jacobson et al. 1985.

cations in southern and western Illi-nois. Except for mines in east-centralIllinois, most large surface mines re-cover the Danville Coal only as part oftheir operation to remove overburdento mine the underlying Herrin Coal. Inmany cases, the Danville seam hasbeen considered to be too thin or toopoor in quality to justify recovery andwas simply discarded in the spoil pilewith other rock overburden. In Indi-ana, mines from Terre Haute south-ward in the western and southwesternparts of the state have and continue towork the Danville Coal.

During or immediately following theaccumulation of the peat that eventu-ally formed the Danville Coal, part ofthe peat swamp was flooded and cov-ered by a sequence of shale, siltstone,and sandstone. Distributary channelswithin the deltaic system that depos-ited this sequence are preserved as lin-ear deposits of sandstone in areas ofeast-central Illinois (fig. 7). This sand-stone is commonly tens of feet abovethe coal, but in some areas the sand-stone lies only a few feet above or di-rectly on the coal. Thinner coal isshown on some logs where the sand-stone lies directly on the coal, indicat-ing that the top of the seam may havebeen eroded.

Because of the variable spacing be-tween data points used to map re-sources and the relatively narrowsandstone bodies, the locations andlateral extent of the sandstone chan-nels are only generally known, and thecontinuity of the coal seam below thesandstone is uncertain. An explanationfor the channels could be that prior tothe Danville deposition, these areas

compacted more rapidly and were to-pographically lower than surroundingareas; thus, they received more of thedistributary channel sediments.

There is no experience mining theDanville Coal in Illinois below the sand-stone channels and only limited experi-ence in Indiana. In the limited Indianaexperience, as well as similar situationsin Illinois involving the Anvil RockSandstone overlying the Herrin Coal,mine productivity was reduced in areaswhere the sandstone was within about5 feet of the top of the coal because ofunstable roof conditions, wet miningconditions, and abrupt thinning or ab-sence of the coal (ISGS mine notes).Similar mining conditions are antici-pated for the Danville Coal in Illinoiswhere sandstone forms the roof rockor is a short vertical distance above thecoal.

Jamestown Coal The JamestownCoal Member of the Shelburn Forma-tion makes up about 2% (3.6 billiontons) of the resources of the state. Al-though the coal has never been minedin Illinois, it has been extensivelymined, both at the surface and under-ground, just across the state line in In-diana where it is called the HymeraCoal. The Jamestown Coal lies 20 to 50feet below the Danville Coal and 1 to 10feet above the Herrin Coal (fig. 3). TheJamestown Coal can be traced as a thinbed—or as coal streaks and carbon-aceous shale, typically a few inchesthick—in cores and mine exposuresover much of central and southernparts of Illinois, but is known to begreater than 42 inches thick only alongthe east border of the state in Clark,


MERCER

ROCK ISLAND

KNOX

WARREN

STARK MARSHALL

PEORIA

PUTNAM

LIVINGSTON

GRUNDY

KANKAKEE

IROQUOIS

VERMILION

FORD

MC LEAN

CHAMPAIGN

DE WITT

PIATTMACON

DOUGLAS EDGAR

MOULTRIE

SHELBY COLES

CLARK

CUMBERLAND

JASPER CRAWFORDEFFINGHAM

MONTGOMERY

FAYETTE

BOND

HENDERSON

HANCOCK MCDONOUGH

FULTON

ADAMS

SCHUYLER

BROWNCASS

PIKEMORGAN

MASON

MENARD

TAZEWELL

LOGAN

SANGAMON

CHRISTIAN

MACOUPIN

SCOTT

GREENE

CALHOUN

JERSEY

MADISON

ST. CLAIR

CLINTON

WASHINGTON

MARION

CLAY

WAYNE

JEFFERSON

RICHLAND LAWRENCE

HAMILTON WHITE

EDWARDS

WABASH

GALLATINSALINE

FRANKLIN

WILLIAMSON

JOHNSON POPE HARDIN

MONROE

RANDOLPHPERRY

JACKSON

UNION

WOODFORD

LA SALLEHENRY BUREAU

Figure 4 Thickness of the Danville Coal.


Figure 5 Depth of the Danville Coal.

MERCER

ROCK ISLAND

KNOX

WARREN

STARK MARSHALL

PEORIA

PUTNAM

LIVINGSTON

GRUNDY

KANKAKEE

IROQUOIS

VERMILION

FORD

MC LEAN

CHAMPAIGN

DE WITT

PIATTMACON

DOUGLAS EDGAR

MOULTRIE

SHELBY COLES

CLARK

CUMBERLAND


MONTGOMERY

FAYETTE

BOND

HENDERSONHANCOCK MCDONOUGH

FULTON

ADAMS

SCHUYLER

BROWNCASS

PIKEMORGAN

MASON

MENARD

TAZEWELL

LOGAN

SANGAMON

CHRISTIAN

MACOUPIN

SCOTT

GREENE

CALHOUN

JERSEY

MADISON

ST. CLAIR

CLINTON

WASHINGTON

MARION

CLAY

WAYNE

JEFFERSON

RICHLAND LAWRENCE

HAMILTON WHITE

EDWARDS

WABASH

GALLATINSALINE

FRANKLIN

WILLIAMSON

JOHNSON POPE HARDIN

MONROE

RANDOLPHPERRY

JACKSON

UNION

WOODFORD



Tons

8,000,000

7,000,000

6,000,000

5,000,000

4,000,000

3,000,000

2,000,000

1,000,000

0

1890

1895

1900

1905

1915

1925

1930

1920

1935

1910

1950

1955

1945

1960

1965

1970

1940

1975

1980

1985

1990

Years

1995

Figure 6 Annual production of the Danville Coal in Illinois. The on the X-axis indicates no data for 1902.

Crawford, and Lawrence Counties (fig.8; Treworgy et al. 1997b). In this area ofresources, the seam ranges in depthfrom approximately 150 to 1,000 feet(fig. 9). Lack of mining of theJamestown Coal in Illinois is attributedto its being shallower and thicker justacross the state line in Indiana. In addi-tion, thicker Herrin and Danville Coalsare closer to the surface near this area.In Kentucky, the Jamestown is calledthe Paradise (No.12) Coal. Thick depos-its occur in the western part of thestate, where the Paradise has been stripmined extensively in a three-county re-gion (Greb et al. 1992).

Because of the lack of any past miningof the Jamestown Coal in Illinois, themining conditions that will be encoun-tered can only be inferred from nearbymines in Indiana. Harper (1988, 1994)describes underground mining of theHymera in Indiana as being limited bygeologic conditions. The ThunderbirdMine, the last major undergroundmine active in the Hymera and theclosest mine to Illinois, had a roof se-quence consisting of laminated grayshale and sandstone. Mining problemsencountered included failure of theshale after exposure to the atmo-sphere, seepage of water from thesandstone where it closely overlies the

coal, and features described as “faults”or “roof rolls.” Miners use these latterterms to refer to a variety of displace-ments, discontinuities, and irregulari-ties in the coal and overlying roofstrata. Similar conditions were re-ported in other underground mines inthe Hymera Coal. Many of these mineswere very shallow, and some roof sta-bility problems may have been causedor exacerbated by insufficient bedrockcover or weathering of the bedrockcover. Some resources of JamestownCoal in Illinois will probably be foundto be difficult or costly to mine be-cause of some of these geologic condi-tions. Because of the scarcity of suit-able drilling records and lack of miningexperience, it is impossible at this timeto delineate the areas or estimate theamount of resources that will be af-fected by adverse geologic conditions.

Dekoven Coal The 6 billion tons ofDekoven Coal resources are the sev-enth largest in Illinois and make upabout 3% of the state’s total coal re-sources. Earlier studies of the coal(Cady 1952, Smith 1957, Jacobson 1993)were confined to the southern third ofthe study area (Franklin, Williamson,Saline, and Gallatin Counties). Usingnew subsurface data, this study ex-panded mapping of the Dekoven to in-

clude White, Hamilton, Wayne,Edwards, and Wabash Counties.

The Dekoven Coal Member of theCarbondale Formation (fig. 3) is wide-spread across southeastern Illinois.Jacobson (1987) found the DekovenCoal and the underlying Davis Coal tobe equivalent to the benches of theSeelyville Coal that were formed by thepresence of several clastic partings tothe north and east of this study area.

The Dekoven Coal ranges from 28 to 42inches thick over approximately two-thirds of the area studied for this re-port and in smaller areas up to 66inches in thickness (fig. 10). TheDekoven increases in depth from itscrop line northward (fig. 11) andreaches depths exceeding 1,400 feet to-ward the center of the deep basin, orFairfield Basin (fig. 12), and depths ex-ceeding 1,000 feet occur in smaller ar-eas of downdropped fault blocks (gra-bens) in Gallatin and White Counties.

In southeastern Illinois, a parting oc-curs in the Dekoven Coal, producing asplit of coal from the main bench ofthe Dekoven that Jacobson (1993) re-ferred to as the lower Dekoven Coal.Smith (1957) and Jacobson (1987) hadrecognized this split but had not


COLESEDGAR

CUMBERLAND

CLARK

EFFINGHAM

JASPERCRAWFORD

RICHLAND LAWRENCE

Figure 7 Location of sandstone channels above the Danville Coal.

1 01 01 01 01 0 Illinois Minerals 124 Illinois State Geological Survey

Figure 8 Thickness of the Jamestown Coal.

COLES

CLARK

CUMBERLAND

JASPER

CLAY RICHLAND

CRAWFORD

LAWRENCE

EDWARDS WABASH

Illinois State Geological Survey Illinois Minerals 124 1 11 11 11 11 1

COLESCLARK

CUMBERLAND

JASPER

CLAY RICHLAND

CRAWFORD

LAWRENCE

EDWARDS WABASH

Figure 9 Depth of the Jamestown Coal.


MARION CLAY RICHLAND LAWRENCE

UNION

EDWARDS WABASH

Figure 10 Thickness of the Dekoven Coal.



UNION

EDWARDS WABASH

Figure 11 Depth of the Dekoven Coal.


Figure 12 Selected structural features in southeastern Illinois.

Cla

yC

ity

Ant

iclin

e

Bog

ota-

Rin

ard

Syn

clin

e

LASALLE

ANTICLINORIUM

SANGAMON MACON PIATT


mapped it in detail prior to the 1993study by Jacobson. The lower Dekovenis typically less than 28 inches thick inmost of the study area, and the rockparting dividing the Dekoven Coal in-creases in thickness to the north-northeast from a feather edge to morethan 40 feet thick (Jacobson 1993). Newsubsurface data suggest that this part-ing extends throughout the northeast-ern portion of the study area and thinsnortheastward toward the eastern shelfof the Illinois Basin.

The Dekoven Coal is typically overlainby either medium to dark gray siltyshale and siltstone or by massive, thicksandstone. These shales, siltstones, andsandstones are of variable lateral ex-tent and are not easily mappable, butsuch areas of lateral variation com-monly have unstable roof conditions.Thick, well-cemented sandstone canproduce a strong roof and may exist insome areas over the Dekoven, but thecommon presence of shaley sand-stones, siltstones, and shales will likelyreduce the competence of theDekoven roof. Two of the three olderunderground mines in the DekovenCoal reported water problems thatmay have been related to porous sand-stones, fracturing, faulting, or a combi-nation of such factors (unpublishedmine notes, ISGS Coal Section).

Nearly all of the mining in the DekovenCoal has occurred along its crop line inthe southern part of the study area.The Dekoven Coal was often minedalong with the underlying Davis Coalbecause, in this area, these coals arefound with the interval between themaveraging 25 feet thick. Most mining todate has been in surface mines, butsome small underground mines haveoperated in Gallatin and Saline Coun-ties. The Dekoven Coal has been minedextensively in western Kentucky, bothunderground and in surface mines.

Interval between the Dekoven andDavis Coals The interval between themain bench of the Dekoven Coal andthe underlying Davis Coal ranges fromless than 20 feet to more than 60 feetthick over much of the report area; thethinner areas occur to the south-southwest and northeast (fig. 13). Theinterval between the two coals thinsdramatically coming out of the deeper

basin where the strata rise up over theLa Salle Anticlinorium (fig. 12), and onthe eastern shelf of the basin these twocoals appear to merge to form theSeelyville (Jacobson 1987).

Over much of the northern half of thestudy area, the interval thickness is wellover 60 feet, and this interval betweenthe Dekoven and underlying Davis Coalincludes the clastic parting within theDekoven Coal. Here, the interval be-tween the Davis and the lower split ofthe Dekoven averages 10 feet, which issignificantly less than in areas wherethe Dekoven parting is absent and theinterval thickness averages 20 to 25feet. Where the split in the Dekoven isabsent, the general lithology of the in-terval between the Davis and Dekovenis sandstone above the roof shales ofthe Davis Coal. This sandstone seemsto be mostly absent, however, wherethe overlying Dekoven is split. Thus,where this sandstone thins or is absent,the interval thickness between theDavis and the lower bench of theDekoven is also thinner.

Davis Coal The 10 billion tons ofDavis Coal resources represent thesixth largest in the state and constituteroughly 5% of the total coal resources.Previous studies of the coal (Cady 1952,Smith 1957, Jacobson 1993) were lim-ited to southeastern Illinois, specificallyFranklin, Williamson, Saline, andGallatin Counties. New subsurface datahave expanded mapping of the Davisnorthward to include White, Hamilton,Wayne, Edwards, and Wabash Counties.

The Davis Coal Member of theCarbondale Formation (fig. 3) is thethickest and most widespread coal be-low the Colchester Coal in southeast-ern Illinois. The Davis is typically 42 to66 inches thick over roughly half of thestudy area, and, in smaller areas, thecoal is greater than 66 inches thick. Inother areas, the Davis is thinner, typi-cally ranging from less than 28 inchesto 42 inches thick (fig. 14). The DavisCoal increases in depth from its cropline northward and reaches depths ofnearly 1,500 feet toward the center ofthe deep basin, and depths exceeding1,000 feet occur in smaller areas ofdowndropped fault blocks (grabens) inGallatin and White Counties (fig. 15).

The Davis Coal is generally overlain byshale, which core, gamma log, andmine data indicate as black, very fissile,carbonaceous, and marine in origin.This shale averages 5 feet thick overmuch of the study area. However, insmaller areas, gray silty shales or silt-stones occur directly overlying theDavis. This shale, in turn, is overlain bya variable succession of gray shale, silt-stone, and sandstone. Above someother coals, black fissile shale is over-lain by marine limestone. Althoughblack fissile shale makes a fairly com-petent mine roof, the general strataoverlying the Davis are not as compe-tent as those over other coals where ahard marine limestone is present nearthe coal. Where planar-bedded sand-stone with shale partings is present,roof stability is often even further re-duced, and sandstones within 5 feetabove the coal can be likely sources ofwater problems within a mine.

Nearly all of the mining in the DavisCoal has occurred along its crop line inthe southern part of the study area.The Davis Coal was often mined alongwith the overlying Dekoven Coal be-cause, in this area, they average 25 feetapart. As with the Dekoven Coal, mostmining to date has been in surfacemines, but some small undergroundoperations are found in Gallatin andSaline Counties. At the time of this re-port, a larger underground operationwas mining the Davis Coal in GallatinCounty near the Eagle Valley area. Also,numerous surface and undergroundoperations mine the Davis Coal inwestern Kentucky.

Seelyville Coal The Seelyville CoalMember of the Carbondale Formationunderlies approximately 1,900 squaremiles in central and eastern Illinois andcontains about 5% (10 billion tons) ofthe state’s resources. The coal is 42 to66 inches thick over much of the studyarea, and, in several large areas, theseam is greater than 66 inches thick(fig. 16). The coal ranges in depth fromgreater than 200 feet along the easternedge of the state to about 1,500 feet inthe central part of the basin (fig. 17).The coal is found at the same strati-graphic position as the Dekoven andDavis Coals in southern Illinois (fig. 3),and subsurface correlation byJacobson (1987) indicated that upper



UNION

EDWARDS WABASH

Figure 13 Thickness of the interval between the Dekoven and Davis Coals.


MARION CLAY LAWRENCE

EDWARDS WABASH

RICHLAND

Figure 14 Thickness of the Davis Coal.



UNION

EDWARDS WABASH

Figure 15 Depth of the Davis Coal.


E R O D E D

CO

CO

AL

AL

TH

INO

RO

RA

BS

EN

T

CUMBERLAND

CHAMPAIGN VERMILION

Figure 16 Thickness of the Seelyville Coal.


FAYETTE

CHAMPAIGN VERMILION

E R O D E D

CO

AL

TH

INO

RO

RA

BS

EN

T

Figure 17 Depth of the Seelyville Coal.


and lower benches of the Seelyville arecorrelative with the Dekoven and DavisCoals, respectively. The Seelyville hasbeen extensively mined both at thesurface and underground in westernIndiana. The only mining of this seamin Illinois was in Edgar County, wheretwo underground mines based in Indi-ana extended their works a few hun-dred feet into Illinois. The seam has re-ceived little attention from Illinois min-ing companies because of the availabil-ity of abundant resources in shallowerseams, such as the Herrin and Spring-field Coals.

The Seelyville Coal commonly has oneor more shale partings. The thickestpartings are usually in the middle orupper part of the seam and range froma few inches to several feet thick. Mostof the Seelyville resources weremapped using geophysical logs fromoil test holes (Treworgy 1981). Theselogs seldom had a resolution suitablefor detecting partings less than 6 inchesthick, so the number and extent ofthese thinner partings are unknown. Inareas where partings exceeded about 2feet in thickness, only the thickestbench of coal, commonly the lowerbench, was considered a resource. Theresolution and density of drillingrecords used to map the Seelyville re-sources were not sufficient to delineateareas with multiple, thin partings. Ourquadrangle studies found that exces-sive parting material is a commonproblem with the Seelyville Coal. In thisreport, total available tonnage of coalhas been reduced by 20% to representthe possible amount of resource thatmay be unavailable because of excessparting material.

As with the Jamestown Coal, the lack ofany history of mining the SeelyvilleCoal in Illinois makes it difficult toevaluate how geologic conditions suchas roof stability and the presence ofsandstone in the roof strata may affectthe availability of coal. Treworgy (1981)described three types of strata overly-ing the coal that consist of various se-quences of shales, claystones, andsandstones. None of these sequencesclearly makes an excellent mine roof.Harper (1985) noted that Indianamines nearest Illinois in the Seelyville(the Talleydale and Green Valley Mines,in northwest Vigo County) reported

common problems with roof controlsuch as weakness of laminated sand-stones upon exposure to air, and“squeezes,” or the sinking of supportpillars into the soft, unconsolidatedclaystones underlying the coal, whichoften led to constricted mine openingsand the weakening of the nearby roof.Also, the map of the Green Valley Minenotes water in at least one location.Thus, for the Seelyville Coal in Illinois,it is reasonable to expect some loss ofresources caused by adverse geologicconditions.

Coal QualityThe quality of coal was not consideredas a factor in determining its availabil-ity. Although coal quality is an ex-tremely important factor in individualsales contracts and the magnitude ofdemand for a particular coal, availabil-ity for mining of a specific resourcecannot be ruled out based strictly onquality. Coal washing, blending withother seams, and other techniques canbe used to mitigate some undesirablequality characteristics of coals. Be-cause most Illinois coal resources havea relatively high-sulfur content, the de-mand for these resources is currentlylimited. However, the market for high-sulfur coal, although reduced in size, isexpected to continue and may increaseas power plants with new emissioncontrol technologies become available.

Rank Illinois coals are high-volatile,bituminous coals that range in rankfrom rank A in the southeastern cornerof the state to rank C in the northwest-ern two-thirds of the state (Treworgy1997b). Over the same area, heat con-tent ranges from more than 25 millionBTU per ton to less than 20 millionBTU per ton (as received). MostDanville and Jamestown resources arerank C, and most Seelyville resourcesare rank B. The southernmost Dekovenand Davis resources are rank A.

Sulfur The sulfur content of Illinoiscoals is closely related to the deposi-tional history of the coal and the roofstrata (Gluskoter and Simon 1968,Treworgy and Jacobson 1986). In areaswhere the peat swamp was inundatedwith marine waters, the sulfur contentof the coal is commonly in the range of3 to 5% (as-received basis, equivalent

to 2.5 to 5 pounds of sulfur per millionBTU). In these areas, the coal is typi-cally overlain by a sequence of marinerocks including black shale and lime-stone. In areas where the peat hadbeen buried by a thick (more than 20feet) layer of sediments (fresh water orbrackish water and estuarine or deltaicclastic sediments) before or shortly af-ter the swamp was inundated by ma-rine waters, the sulfur content of thecoal is generally less than 2.0% andmay be as low as about 0.5%.

Of the five coals covered in this report,only the Danville Coal has been con-firmed by analyses to have resourceswith a low-sulfur content. Based on thegeology associated with these deposits,the Danville Coal is projected to have alow- to medium-sulfur content in east-ern Clark, Crawford, and LawrenceCounties in east-central Illinois (fig. 18).The sulfur content is inferred to be aslow as about 0.5% (as-received basis),the lowest sulfur deposits being adja-cent to the border with Indiana. Wherethe Danville Coal has been sampledelsewhere in the state, the coal has ahigh-sulfur content (3 to 5% sulfur, asreceived).

Few analyses are available of theJamestown, Dekoven, Davis, andSeelyville Coals in Illinois, and all ofthose report high-sulfur contents of 3to 5% (as received). However, thesecoals are known have low- to medium-sulfur contents in areas of Indiana(Wier 1973), and geologic conditionssuggest that some localized lower-sulfur deposits could exist in Illinois.

Chlorine The chlorine content of Illi-nois coals is loosely correlated todepth, and, for the Herrin Coal, chlo-rine increases from less than 0.1% (asreceived) at shallow depths along themargins of the basin to more than 0.4%in the central part of the basin (fig. 19,Chou 1991). Few analyses for chlorineare available for the coals covered bythis report. Because chlorine is thoughtto be related to basin fluids, not coalgenesis, the Danville and JamestownCoals are predicted to have chlorinecontents similar to that of the underly-ing Herrin Coal. The Seelyville,Dekoven, and Davis Coals should haveslightly higher chlorine levels. Based onthis projection, some resources of the


CLAY

WAYNE

FAYETTE

EDWARDS WABASH

CHAMPAIGN VERMILIONMC LEAN

MACON

Figure 18 Sulfur content of the Danville Coal.


MERCER

ROCK ISLAND

KNOX

WARREN

STARK MARSHALL

PEORIA

PUTNAM

LIVINGSTON

GRUNDY

KANKAKEE

IROQUOIS

VERMILION

FORD

MC LEAN

CHAMPAIGN

DE WITT

PIATTMACON

DOUGLAS EDGAR

MOULTRIE

SHELBY COLES

CLARK

CUMBERLAND


MONTGOMERY

FAYETTE

BOND

HENDERSONHANCOCK MCDONOUGH

FULTON

ADAMS

SCHUYLER

BROWNCASS

PIKEMORGAN

MASON

MENARD

TAZEWELL

LOGAN

SANGAMON

CHRISTIAN

MACOUPIN

SCOTT

GREENE

CALHOUN

JERSEY

MADISON

ST. CLAIR

CLINTON

WASHINGTON

MARION

CLAY

WAYNE

JEFFERSON

RICHLAND LAWRENCE

HAMILTON WHITE

EDWARDS

WABASH

GALLATINSALINE

FRANKLIN

WILLIAMSON

JOHNSON POPE HARDIN

MONROE

RANDOLPHPERRY

JACKSON

UNION

WOODFORD


Figure 19 Chlorine content of the Herrin Coal (from Chou 1991).


Table 3 Criteria1 used to define resources available for surface mining in this study.

Technological restrictionsMinimum seam thickness 18 inchesMaximum depth 200 feetMaximum unconsolidated overburden 60 feetStripping ratio2

Maximum 25:1Maximum average 20:1

Minimum size of mine reserve (clean coal)Cumulative tonnage needed to supporta mine and preparation plant 10 million tons

Individual block size (thousands of tons)Less than 50 feet of overburden 150More than 50 feet of overburden 500

Land-use restrictions (width of unminable coal around feature)Cemeteries not usedState parks and preserves 100 feetRailroads 100 feetFederal and state highways 100 feetOther paved roads not usedMajor airports 100 feetHigh-voltage transmission towers not usedPipelines 100 feet

Underground mines 200 feetTowns 0.5 miles

Available with potential restrictionsOnly if surface-mined in combination

with overlying or underlying seam identified3

Potential land-use conflictsAll otherwise available surface

minable coal in areas where land-usepatterns are incompatible with mining identified

1 See previous investigations in this series for a detailed explanation of differences in criteria(Treworgy et al. 1999a, 2000).

2 Cubic yards of overburden per ton of raw coal; volumes and weights not adjusted for swellfactors or cleaning losses.

3 The Danville Coal was considered to be available regardless of stripping ratio if the under-lying Herrin Coal was available for surface mining. The Davis and Dekoven Coals arecommonly mined together; thus, their combined tonnage and overburden were used tocalculate stripping ratio.

Danville and Jamestown Coals in east-central Illinois and much of the re-sources of Seelyville Coal may havechlorine levels above those of othercoals commonly used in current Illi-nois markets. Although the chlorinecontent of British coals has been cor-related with corrosion and fouling ofhigh-temperature boilers, no studieshave found such a correlation with re-spect to chlorine in coals from Illinois(Monroe and Clarkson 1994, Chou etal. 1998, 1999).

Quadrangle StudiesThe criteria defining available coal re-sources were developed through a se-ries of 21 assessments of 7.5-minutequadrangles (fig. 20; Jacobson et al.1996; Treworgy et al. 1994, 1995, 1996a,1996b, 1997a, 1998, 1999b; Treworgy1999; Treworgy and North 1999). Theseassessments included interviews withmore than 40 mining engineers, geolo-

gists, and other mining specialists rep-resenting 17 mining companies, con-sulting firms, and government agenciesactively involved in the Illinois coal in-dustry. Additional background of thisprogram and a detailed description ofthe framework for the investigations inIllinois are provided in previous re-ports (e.g., Treworgy et al. 1994).


Technological and Land-Use Factors that Affectthe Availability of Coalfor MiningThe criteria used in this study to defineavailable and restricted resources are acomposite set of rules based on our in-terviews with mining companies, ob-servations of mining practice, and theassessments of the 21 quadrangles. A

detailed description of most of thesecriteria and their effects on mining wasgiven in previous reports in this series(Treworgy et al.1999a, 2000). Criteriaunique to coals covered by this report(e.g., sandstone overlying the DanvilleCoal and partings in the Seelyville Coal)are described in the Geology and Min-ing section.

In tables 3 and 4, the criteria are orga-nized according to the relevant mining

methods (surface or undergroundmining) as currently practiced in Illi-nois. Because surface mining can beused to mine coal lying as deep as 200feet and underground mining can beused to extract coal lying as shallow asabout 75 feet (if there is sufficient bed-rock), resources that are 75 to 200 feetdeep were evaluated for their availabil-ity for both surface and undergroundmining.

Table 4 Criteria used to define resources available for underground mining in this study.

Technological restrictionsMinimum seam thickness 42 inchesMinimum bedrock cover 75 feetMinimum ratio of bedrock to unconsolidated

overburden 1:1Minimum interburden between

minable seams: 40 feetMinimum size of mining block (clean coal) 40 million tonsFaults (width of zone of no mining)

Cottage Grove Fault SystemMaster fault 500 to 1,000 feetSubsidiary faults 100 feet

Rend Lake Fault System 200 feetCentralia Fault 300 feetWabash Valley Fault System 800 feet

Sandstone within 5 feet of top of coal1 Danville tonnage reduced 25% to account for areas of unstable roof oreroded coal

Partings Seelyville available tonnage reduced 20% to account for areasunminable because of excessive thickness of parting material

Land-use restrictions (width of unminablecoal around feature)

Surface and underground mines 200 feetTowns 0 feetSubdivisions not usedChurches and schools not usedCemeteries not usedHigh-voltage transmission towers not usedInterstate highways 100 feetMajor airports 100 feetDams 100 feetClosely spaced oil wells <7 wells/40 acres

Available with potential restrictions

Closely spaced oil well 4 to 7 wells/40 acres

Potential land-use conflicts all otherwise available underground minable coal within areas whereland-use patterns are incompatible with mining

Potentially adverse mining conditions Danville Coal areas with sandstone within 5 feet of coal (75% remain-ing after initial tonnage reduction); all available Seelyville Coal, due tounmapped partings

Bedrock cover greater than minimum, but <100 feet

1 Danville Coal only. Although all coals in this study may have this condition, the location of sandstone has been mapped only for theDanville Coal.


KewaneeNorth

Princeville

Peoria West

MiddletonTallula

Augusta

VillaGrove

Snyder/ West Union

Newton

Mt. Carmel

Albion South

Vincennes

Springerton

Galatia

Shawneetown

Pinckneyville

Mascoutah

Collinsville

Roodhouse

AtwaterNokomis

Figure 20 Quadrangle study areas used to identify coal available for mining.


This study does not consider the avail-ability of coal that could be mined us-ing an auger or highwall miner. Thosetechniques, which allow additional ton-nages of coal to be recovered from thefinal cut of a surface mine, have beenused on a limited basis in Illinois. Inmany cases, this coal will be minableby underground methods. Most of thefactors that restrict underground min-ing, except for seam thickness, also re-strict auger or highwall mining. Theamount of additional tonnage that isrecoverable by these methods is prob-ably not significant.

Most technological or land-use factorsthat restrict mining are based on eco-nomic and social considerations andare not absolute restrictions on mining.Companies can choose to mine under-ground in areas of severe roof or floorconditions or thin seams if they arewilling to bear the higher operatingcosts, interruptions and delays in pro-duction, and lower employee moralethat result from operating in theseconditions. It is possible to minethrough or under most roads or undersmall towns if a company is willing toinvest the time and expense necessaryto gain approval from the appropriategoverning units or individual landown-ers and to mitigate any damage. Themaximum stripping ratio is strictly aneconomic limit, and areas of coal withhigh stripping ratios may be more eco-nomical to mine by undergroundmethods or may remain unmined untilthe market price for coal increasesrelative to production costs. Similarly,previous economic and social condi-tions have, at times, enabled compa-nies to mine in areas where factors arenow restrictive. The current highlycompetitive price environment in thecoal industry, which makes coal that ismore expensive to mine uneconomic,is expected to prevail in the Illinois Ba-sin indefinitely. Therefore, the criteriaused to determine available coal forthis report are likely to cover miningconditions for the foreseeable future.

Available ResourcesDanville CoalOf the original resources of DanvilleCoal, 4.5 billion tons (23%) are availablefor mining (fig. 21A). Of these available

Figure 21 Availability of the Danville Coal for mining in Illinois (bt = billion tons).

A. Total availability

B. Underground(based on 18 billion tons)

C. Surface(based on 4.4 billion tons)

Available with potentialrestrictions 1%

Mined or lost 3%Available 8%

Towns11%

Other land-use restrictions 4%

Unfavorablestripping ratio 66%

Thick unconsolidatedoverburden 7%

Block size<1%

Technologicalrestrictions

Land-userestrictions

Available with potentialrestrictions2%

Land-use restrictions 5%

Mined or lost1%

Available23%

Coal <42 inchesthick 29%

Thin bedrock

cover 18%

Thin interburden

16%

Block size, sandstone,and faults 6%

Technologicalrestrictions

Technological restriction13.5 bt 69%

Available with potential

restrictions0.3 bt 1%

Land-userestrictions1.1 bt 6%

Mined or lost0.2 bt 1%

Available4.5 bt 23%


Table 5 Availability of the Danville Coal by thickness category (billions of tons).

Danville Coal 18–28 inches 28–42 inches 42–66 inches >66 inches Total

Original 1.3 9.5 8.0 0.8 19.6Mined < 0.1 (3)1 < 0.1 (<1) < 0.1 (<1) 0.1 (15) 0.2 (1)Remaining 1.2 (97) 9.5 (100) 8.0 (100) 0.7 (85) 19.4 (99)

Available 0.1 (8) < 0.1 (1) 4.0 (50) 0.4 (46) 4.5 (23)Available with conditions < 0.1 (1) 0.0 0.2 (2) < 0.1 (4) 0.3 (1)Technological restrictions 1.0 (77) 8.8 (93) 3.5 (44) 0.2 (26) 13.5 (69)Land-use restrictions 0.1 (11) 0.6 (6) 0.3 (4) 0.1 (9) 1.1 (6)

1 Numbers in parentheses are percent of original resource.

Table 6 Availability of the Jamestown, Dekoven, Davis, and Seelyville Coals for mining, by thickness cate-gory (billions of tons).

18–28 inches 28–42 inches 42–66 inches >66 inches Total

Jamestown CoalOriginal 0.1 1.3 2.0 0.2 3.6Mined 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0Remaining 0.1 (100)1 1.3 (100) 2.0 (100) 0.2 (100) 3.6 (100)

Available 0.0 0.0 0.9 (44) < 0.1 (11) 0.9 (26)Available with conditions 0.0 0.0 0.1 (3) 0.0 0.1 (2)Technological restrictions < 0.1 (93) 1.1 (84) 0.9 (45) 0.2 (88) 2.2 (62)Land-use restrictions < 0.1 (7) 0.2 (16) 0.2 (8) < 0.1 (1) 0.4 (10)

Dekoven CoalOriginal 0.1 4.8 1.1 0 6.0Mined < 0.1 (56) < 0.1 (1) < 0.1 (1) 0.1 (1)Remaining < 0.1 (44) 4.8 (99) 1.1 (99) 5.9 (99)

Available < 0.1 (37) 0.1 (2) 0.2 (19) 0.3 (5)Available with conditions 0.0 0.0 0.1 (2) 0.1 (1)Technological restrictions < 0.1 (7) 4.5 (92) 0.8 (77) 5.3 (89)Land-use restrictions 0.0 0.2 (5) < 0.1 (1) 0.2 (4)

Davis CoalOriginal 0 3.5 5.8 0.3 9.6Mined < 0.1 (1)2 < 0.1 (1) 0.0 < 0.1 (1)Remaining 3.5 (99) 5.7 (99) 0.3 (100) 9.5 (99)

Available < 0.1 (1) 4.5 (77) 0.2 (84) 4.7 (49)Available with conditions 0.0 0.5 (9) < 0.1 (10) 0.5 (5)Technological restrictions 3.3 (94) 0.5 (9) < 0.1 (2) 3.9 (41)Land-use restrictions 0.2 (4) 0.2 (4) < 0.1 (4) 0.4 (4)

Seelyville CoalOriginal –3 < 0.1 7.0 2.7 9.7Mined 0.0 0.0 < 0.1 (<1) < 0.1 (<1)Remaining < 0.1 (100) 7.0 (100) 2.7 (100) 9.7 (100)

Available 0.0 4.8 (69) 1.9 (69) 6.7 (69)Available with conditions 0.0 0.2 (3) 0.1 (3) 0.3 (3)Technological restrictions < 0.1 (100) 1.6 (22) 0.5 (20) 2.1 (22)Land-use restrictions 0.0 0.4 (6) 0.2 (8) 0.6 (6)

1 Numbers in parentheses are percent of original resources.2 Minimum surface minable thickness category; only coal less than 200 feet deep was evaluated.3 Minimum surface minable thickness category. As all of the Seelyville Coal resources lie greater than 200 feet deep, coal

in the 18- to 28-inch thickness range was not evaluated.


Figure 22 Areas of the Danville Coal available for underground mining.


WILLIAMSON

HENRY BUREAU LA SALLE WILL

KNOX

FULTON

CASS

MORGAN

Figure 23 Areas of the Danville Coal available for surface mining.


Figure 24 Availability of the Jamestown, Dekoven, Davis, and Seelyville Coals for mining in Illinois (bt = billion tons).

resources, 4 billion tons are 42 to 66inches thick, and 400 million tons aregreater than 66 inches thick (table 5).Of available Danville Coal resources,1.2 billions tons have a medium- tolow-sulfur content (less than 1.67pounds of sulfur per million BTU). Anadditional 300 million tons are availablebut with potential restrictions. Geo-logic or land-use conditions may in-crease the cost of mining. These areasinclude those that have a medium den-sity of oil wells (4 to 7 wells per 40acres), 75 to 100 feet of bedrock, sand-stone within 5 feet of the top of thecoal, or location near rapidly develop-

ing areas. Technological factors restrict69% of the resources (13.5 billion tons),and land use restricts 6% (1.1 billiontons).

About 18 billion tons of the originalDanville Coal resources lie at depthsgreater than 75 feet and are potentiallyminable by underground methods. Ofthese, 4 billion tons (23%) are availablefor underground mining, and an addi-tional 300 million tons (2%) are avail-able with potential restrictions (fig.21B). The available resources lie in theeastern and north-central parts of thestate (fig. 22).

Technological factors restrict 69% (12.5billion tons) of the underground min-able resources, and land use restricts5% (fig. 21B). The major technologicalrestrictions are coal less than 42 inchesthick (29%), thin bedrock and/or thickunconsolidated overburden (18%), andthin interburden between the DanvilleCoal and resources in underlying coals(16%). Mining blocks of insufficient sizeand sandstone in the immediate roofrestrict a total of almost 6% of theresources.

About 4.4 billion tons of the originalDanville Coal resources lie at depths

Available0.9 bt 26%

Available withpotential restrictions0.1bt <2%

Technologicalrestrictions2.2 bt 62%


A. Jamestown Coal B. Dekoven Coal

C. Davis Coal D. Seelyville Coal

Available0.3 bt 5%

Available withpotential restrictions0.1 bt 1%



Mined or lost0.1 bt 1%

Available

6.7 bt 69%

Available withpotential

restrictions0.3 bt 3%



Mined or lost<0.1 bt <1%

Available4.7 bt 49%

Available withpotential restrictions

0.5 bt 5%


Land-userestriction0.4 bt 4%

Mined or lost<0.1 bt 1%


CLARKCOLES

CUMBERLAND

JASPER

RICHLAND

CRAWFORD

LAWRENCE

EDWARDS WABASH

Figure 25 Areas of the Jamestown Coal available for underground mining.


Table 7 Resources of the Dekoven and Davis Coals available for surfacemining (millions of tons).

Surface minable coal Dekoven Coal Davis Coal Total

Original 158 202 360Mined 31 (20)1 37 (18) 68 (19)Remaining 127 (80) 165 (82) 292 (81)

Available 118 (75) 148 (73) 266 (74)Available with conditions 0 0 0Technological restrictions 7 (4) 15 (8) 22 (6)Land-use restrictions 2 (1) 2 (1) 4 (1)

1 Numbers in parentheses are percent of original resources.

shallow enough to be considered forsurface mining (less than 200 feetdeep). Of these, 360 million tons (about8%) are available for surface mining(fig. 21C). An additional 4 million tonsare available if the Danville is mined inconjunction with the underlying HerrinCoal, and 11 million tons are availablebut with potential land-use restrictions.Technological factors restrict 74% (3billion tons) of the resources, and themajority of these are restricted by un-favorable stripping ratio (66% of re-sources). Unfavorable drift thicknessrestricts 7% of the resources, and thesize or geometry of the mining blockrestricts less than 1%. Land use restrictssurface mining of 15% of the re-sources, and the majority (11% of theresources) is from towns. Major areasof Danville Coal are available for sur-face mining in the eastern and north-central parts of the state, but smallersurface-minable blocks are alsopresent along the southern crop of thecoal in Saline and Williamson Counties(fig. 23).

Jamestown CoalLess than 1 billion tons (26%) of theoriginal resources of Jamestown Coalare available for mining (fig. 24A), andessentially all of these available re-sources are 42 to 66 inches thick (table6). An additional 58 million tons (lessthan 2%) are available but in potentiallyrestricted areas that have a mediumdensity of oil wells present. All of theavailable coal resources are minableonly by underground methods and arelocated in the east-central part of thestate (fig. 25). Technological factors re-strict mining of 62% of the resources(2.2 billion tons): the major restrictionsare coal less than 42 inches thick (27%),

thin interburden between theJamestown and overlying Danville Coal(24%), and mining block size or geom-etry (11%). Land use, primarily a highdensity of oil wells, restricts mining of10% of the resources. All of the re-sources of Jamestown Coal less than200 feet deep have an unfavorablestripping ratio.

Dekoven CoalOf the 6 billion tons of original re-sources of the Dekoven Coal, only 300million tons (5%) are available for min-ing (fig. 24B). Two-thirds of these avail-able resources are 42 to 66 inchesthick, and the remaining are less than42 inches thick (table 6). An additional100 million tons (1%) are available butwith potential restrictions. Technologi-cal factors restrict 89% (5.3 billion tons)of the resources, and land-use factorsrestrict 4% (200 million tons).

Almost all of the original Dekoven Coalresources lie deep enough to be poten-tially minable by underground meth-ods. Of these resources, 200 milliontons (4%) are available for under-ground mining. An additional 24 mil-lion tons are available but within areasthat have a medium density of oil wells.The major technological factors thatrestrict underground mining of theDekoven Coal are thin interburden be-tween the Dekoven Coal and resourcesin the underlying Davis Coal (55%),coal less than 42 inches thick (25%),and size of mining block (7%). Thinbedrock and/or thick unconsolidatedoverburden and faults within the coalrestrict a total of about 4% of the re-sources. Land use restricts 4% of theresources. Based on the current extentof mapping of the Dekoven Coal, the

resources available for undergroundmining are limited to select areas inHamilton and Wayne Counties insoutheastern Illinois (fig. 26). Surfaceminable resources of Dekoven Coal arecommonly mined together with theDavis seam; thus, their combined avail-ability for surface mining is addressedlater in this report.

Davis CoalAbout 4.7 billion tons (49%) of theoriginal 9.6 billion tons of Davis Coalresources are available for mining (fig.24C). Most of these available resources(4.5 billion tons) are 42 to 66 inchesthick; 200 million tons are greater than66 inches thick; and fewer than 100million tons are only 28 to 42 inchesthick (table 6). An additional 500 mil-lion tons (5% of resources) are avail-able but with potential restrictions.Technological factors restrict 41% (3.9billion tons), and land-use factors re-strict about 4% (400 million tons).

Almost all of the original Davis Coal re-sources lie deep enough to be poten-tially underground minable, and 4.6billion tons of these underground re-sources (48%) are available for mining.An additional 500 million tons (5%) areavailable but within areas of potentialrestrictions that have a medium den-sity of oil wells or 75 to 100 feet of bed-rock overburden. Technological factorsthat restrict underground mining arecoal less than 42 inches thick (34%) andsize of mining block (3%). Thin bed-rock and/or thick unconsolidatedoverburden and faults within the coalrestrict a total of about 4% of the re-sources. Land use restricts about 4% ofthe resources. As currently mapped,Davis Coal resources available for un-derground mining are located in thesoutheastern part of the state (fig. 27).Surface minable resources of DavisCoal are commonly mined togetherwith the Dekoven seam; thus, theircombined availability is assessed.

Surface Mining of theDekoven and Davis CoalsAbout 202 million tons of the originalDavis Coal resources lie at depths lessthan 200 feet, which is shallow enoughto be considered for surface mining.



UNION

EDWARDS WABASH

Figure 26 Areas of the Dekoven Coal available for underground mining.


UNION

MARION CLAY LAWRENCERICHLAND

EDWARDS WABASH

Figure 27 Areas of the Davis Coal available for underground mining.



UNION

EDWARDS WABASH

Figure 28 Areas of the Dekoven and Davis Coals available for surface mining.


FAYETTE

E R O D E D

CO

CO

AL

AL

TH

INO

RO

RA

BS

EN

TA

BS

EN

T

Figure 29 Areas of the Seelyville Coal available for underground mining.


0 5 10 15 20

Danville

Jamestown

Dekoven

Davis

Seelyville

Available

Available with potentialrestrictions

Restricted or mined

billions of tons

Figure 30 Availability of coal resources by seam.

As the Davis Coal is deeper than theDekoven Coal, its depth is the mainlimiting factor when these two coalsare considered together for surfacemining. The Dekoven contains about158 million tons of potentially surfaceminable resources, but when these twocoals are combined, about 360 milliontons of coal are potentially surfaceminable. The Davis Coal, which is gen-erally thicker than the Dekoven, con-tains the majority of the combined re-sources (table 7). Of the combinedoriginal resources, 266 million tons(74%) are available for surface mining.Technological factors restrict about 6%(22 million tons) of the resources.Major restrictions include unfavorablestripping ratio (3% of resources, basedon depth of Davis Coal and combinedthickness of both coals) and unfavor-able drift thickness (3%). A total ofabout 1% of the resources are re-stricted by land use and geometry orsize of the mining block. Resources ofthe Dekoven and Davis Coals availablefor surface mining are located in thesouthern part of the state, along thecrop lines of these coals in Gallatin,Saline, and Williamson Counties (fig. 28).

Seelyville CoalAbout 6.7 billion tons (69%) of theoriginal resources of Seelyville Coal are

available for mining (fig. 24D). Thisamount reflects a 20% reduction in thetotal available tonnage, which repre-sents the possible amount of resourcethat may be unavailable because of ex-cess parting material in the SeelyvilleCoal. All of the available Seelyville Coalis minable only by underground meth-ods. Of these available resources, 4.8billion tons are 42 to 66 inches thick,and 1.9 billion tons are greater than 66inches thick (table 6). An additional 270million tons (about 3%) are availablebut in potentially restricted areas thathave a medium density of oil wellspresent (fig. 29). Technological factorsrestrict mining of 22% of the originalresources. The major restrictions arepartings within the coal (20% of avail-able coal) and mining-block size or ge-ometry (4% of the original resources).Land use, primarily areas with a highdensity of oil wells, restricts mining of6% of the resources. All of theSeelyville Coal resources lie greaterthan 200 feet deep and thus are notlikely to be surface mined.

ConclusionsThe Danville, Jamestown, Dekoven,Davis, and Seelyville Coals collectivelyrepresent 48 billion tons (23%) of thestate’s original coal resources. A total ofapproximately 17 billion tons of these

five seams are available for mining (fig.30), representing nearly 8% of thestate’s original resources. “Available”means that the land use and physicalcharacteristics of the deposit (e.g.,thickness, depth, in-place tonnage, andstability of bedrock overburden) arecomparable with the conditions wherethese and other coals are currently be-ing mined in the state. Other coal maybe available but with potential restric-tions that make it less desirable tomine, such as the presence of closelyspaced oil wells and test holes, lessstable roof strata, or close proximity todeveloping areas. Because of the lackof experience in underground miningof these coals in Illinois, additional geo-logic conditions may exist that restrictmining but that were not identified bythis study.

The 19.6 billion tons of Danville Coalresources are the third largest in thestate (after the Herrin and SpringfieldCoals, respectively); however, only 23%of original Danville resources (4.5 bil-lion tons) are available for mining. Themajority of the available Danville re-sources (4.2 billion tons) is minable byunderground methods, and an addi-tional 300 million tons are available butwith potential restrictions. Approxi-mately 360 million tons are available bysurface mining methods. Of the totalamount of available Danville Coal, ap-proximately 1.2 billion tons have a me-dium- to low-sulfur content. Major re-strictions to underground mining ofthis seam are thin coal, undesirableoverburden characteristics, and thininterburden between the Danville andresources in the underlying Jamestownand/or Herrin Coals. Restrictions tosurface mining include high strippingratios, thick drift cover, and land use.

The Jamestown Coal resources rankeighth in the state (3.6 billion originaltons), and, because of its depth, thiscoal must be mined underground. Atotal of about 900 million tons (26% oforiginal Jamestown resources) areavailable for mining; 100 million ofthese tons are in areas with numerousoil wells. Major restrictions to miningthe Jamestown are thin coal and thininterburden between the Jamestownand the resources in the overlyingDanville Coal.


Of the 6 billion original tons ofDekoven Coal, only 300 million tons(5%) are available for mining. Of these,200 million tons are available by under-ground mining methods, and just over100 million tons are available by sur-face mining methods, when mined incombination with the underlying DavisCoal. Major restrictions to under-ground mining of the Dekoven are thincoal and thin interburden between thisseam and the Davis Coal. Restrictionsto surface mining include high strip-ping ratios and thick drift cover.

The 9.6 billion tons of Davis Coal re-sources are the sixth largest of allseams in the state, and 4.7 billion tons(49%) are available for mining. Ofthese, the vast majority (4.6 billiontons) is available for mining by under-ground methods; an additional 500million tons are available but with po-tential restrictions. Of this availablecoal, only about 100 million tons areavailable by surface mining methods,when combined with the overlyingDekoven Coal. Major restrictions tounderground mining of the Davis Coalare thin coal, undesirable overburdencharacteristics, and faults within thecoal. As with the Dekoven, restrictionsto surface mining of the Davis Coal in-clude high stripping ratios and thickdrift.

The 9.7 billion tons of Seelyville Coalare the fifth-largest resource in thestate, and 6.7 billion tons (69% of itsoriginal resources) are available formining. An additional 270 million tonsare available but are located in areaswith numerous oil wells. The SeelyvilleCoal is only available by undergroundmining methods, and major restric-tions to mining are the numerous part-ings within the coal and areas heavilydrilled for oil.

Technological factors cause the mostsignificant restrictions to the availabil-ity of each of the coals in this report.For underground mining, these factorsinclude the thickness of interburdenbetween seams, thickness of drift andbedrock overburden, and thickness ofthe coal seam itself. To minimize nega-tive impacts of geologic conditions onmining costs, companies should avoidareas of thick drift and thin bedrock

cover, areas with sandstone in theimmediate mine roof, large areas ofexcessive partings in the coal, andfaulted areas.

For surface mining, the major techno-logical restrictions to mining the coalsin this study are stripping ratio andthickness of drift. These conditionsmake the cost of surface mining toohigh to compete successfully with localunderground mines or with surface-mined coal from western states intoday’s markets.

In most parts of Illinois, land use is arelatively minor restriction to under-ground mining of these seams. Themajor land-use restrictions to under-ground mining are areas of closelyspaced oil wells, and areas related tourban development. Land use, particu-larly a close proximity to towns, is asignificant restriction to surface mining.

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Appendix 1Remaining resources by county and availability by mining method (millions of tons).

Available by mining method1

Remaining resources Total available Surface Underground

Danville CoalBureau 422 6 6 -Champaign 162 29 - 29Christian 63 - - -Clark 1,611 784 - 784Coles 1,140 285 - 285Crawford 1,213 176 - 176Cumberland 894 0 - -Douglas 179 - - -Edgar 1,609 530 20 510Effingham 1,202 - - -Fayette 307 - - -Fulton 57 15 15 -Henry 56 15 15 -Jasper 1,243 - - -Knox 20 5 5 -Lasalle 563 10 10 -Lawrence 1,129 410 - 410Livingston 1,996 727 75 659McLean 1,704 515 - 515Macoupin 16 - - -Marshall 362 15 15 -Montgomery 53 - - -Peoria 276 53 53 -Putnam 218 - - -Richland 652 - - -Saline 69 5 5 -Shelby 130 - - -Stark 56 16 16 -Tazewell 5 - - -Vermilion 1,918 913 128 808Williamson 56 3 3 -Woodford 39 - - -

Total 19,420 4,512 366 4,175

Jamestown CoalClark 684 109 - 109Crawford 1,500 419 - 419Lawrence 1,399 403 - 403

Total 3,583 931 - 931

Dekoven CoalEdwards 76 - - -Franklin 379 - - -Gallatin 950 19 19 -Hamilton 738 74 - 74Saline 723 61 61 -Wabash 107 - - -Wayne 748 140 - 140White 1,513 - - -Williamson 672 37 37 -

Total 5,908 331 117 213


Available by mining method

Remaining resources Total available Surface Underground

Davis CoalEdwards 672 520 - 520Franklin 566 19 - 19Gallatin 1,266 907 29 892Hamilton 1,117 308 - 308Saline 1,369 1,109 74 1,046Wabash 788 484 - 484Wayne 1,363 675 - 675White 1,946 617 - 617Williamson 480 125 45 81

Total 9,568 4,764 148 4,642

Seelyville CoalClark 1,064 737 - 737Clay 34 22 - 22Coles 748 540 - 540Crawford 2,199 1,206 - 1,206Cumberland 1,335 1,007 - 1,007Edgar 877 674 - 674Effingham 376 288 - 288Jasper 2,148 1,621 - 1,621Lawrence 554 308 - 308Richland 132 104 - 104Shelby 207 164 - 164Vermilion 29 - - -

Total 9,703 6,671 - 6,671

1 Surface and underground availability do not add to the total availability because coal that lies between75 and 200 feet deep is included in both categories.


Appendix 2Source maps for coal resources.

County Seam Source (ISGS publications) Map year Scale (×1,000)

Bureau Danville Cady 1952, Smith and Berggren 1963, Smith 1968 1950 125Champaign Danville Treworgy and Bargh 1982 19781 62.5Christian Danville Cady 1952 1950 62.5Clark Danville Treworgy et al. 1997b 1996 50Clark Jamestown Treworgy et al. 1997b 1996 50Clark Seelyville Treworgy 1981 1978 62.5Clay Seelyville Treworgy 1981 1978 62.5Coles Danville Treworgy et al. 1997b 1996 50Coles Seelyville Treworgy 1981 1978 62.5Crawford Danville Treworgy et al. 1997b 1996 50Crawford Jamestown Treworgy et al. 1997b 1996 50Crawford Seelyville Treworgy 1981 1978 62.5Cumberland Danville Treworgy et al. 1997b 1996 50Cumberland Seelyville Treworgy 1981 1981 62.5Douglas Danville This study 2001 50Edgar Danville Treworgy et al. 1997b 1996 50Edgar Seelyville Treworgy 1981 1981 62.5Edwards Dekoven This study 2001 50Edwards Davis This study 2001 50Effingham Danville Treworgy et al. 1997b 1996 50Effingham Seelyville Treworgy 1981 1981 62.5Fayette Danville Cady 1952 1950 62.5Franklin Dekoven Cady 1952 1950 62.5Franklin Davis Cady 1952 1950 62.5Fulton Danville Smith and Berggren 1963 1963 125Gallatin Dekoven Jacobson 1993 1993 62.5Gallatin Davis Jacobson 1993 1993 62.5Hamilton Dekoven Cady 1952 19501 62.5Hamilton Davis Cady 1952 19501 62.5Henry Danville Smith and Berggren 1963 1963 125Jasper Danville Treworgy et al. 1997b 1996 50Jasper Seelyville Treworgy 1981 1981 62.5Knox Danville Smith and Berggren 1963, 19631 125La Salle Danville Jacobson 1985 19851 62.5Lawrence Danville Treworgy et al. 1997b 1996 50Lawrence Jamestown Treworgy et al. 1997b 1996 50Lawrence Seelyville Treworgy 1981 1981 62.5Livingston Danville Jacobson 1985 19851 62.5McLean Danville This study 2001 50Macoupin Danville Cady1952 1950 62.5Marshall Danville Cady 1952, Smith and Berggren 1963 1950 62.5Montgomery Danville Cady 1952 1950 62.5Peoria Danville Smith and Berggren 1963 1963 125Putman Danville Cady 1952 1950 62.5Richland Danville Work map by C.Treworgy 1978 62.5Richland Seelyville Treworgy 1981 1981 62.5Saline Danville Smith 1957 1957 125Saline Dekoven Smith 1957, Jacobson 1993 1957 125Saline Davis Smith 1957, Jacobson 1993 1957 125Shelby Danville Cady 1952 1950 62.5Shelby Seelyville Treworgy 1981 1981 62.5Stark Danville Smith and Berggren 1963 1963 125Tazewell Danville Smith and Berggren 1963 1963 125Vermilion Danville Jacobson and Bengal 1981 19811 62.5Wabash Dekoven This study 2001 50


County Seam Source (ISGS publications) Map year Scale (×1,000)

Wabash Davis This study 2001 50Wayne Dekoven This study 2001 50Wayne Davis This study 2001 50White Dekoven Cady 1952 19501 62.5White Davis Cady 1952 19501 62.5Williamson Danville Smith 1957 1957 125Williamson Dekoven Cady 1952, Smith 1957 1950 125Williamson Davis Cady 1952, Smith 1957 1950 125Woodford Danville Cady 1952 1950 62.5

1 Minor revisions made for this report.

Availability of the Danville, Jamestown, Dekoven, Davis, and Seelyville Coals for Mining in Selected Areas of Illinois

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