The coal resources of Armenia

Book · Wed Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1997

OSTI ID:324639

Pierce, B ^[1]; Martirossian, A ^[2]; Amazaspian, H; Kochinian, G ^[3]

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1. Geological Survey, Reston, VA (United States)
2. United States Geological Survey, Yerevan (Armenia)
3. Ministry of Environment and Interior Resources, Yerevan (Armenia)

The US Geological Survey (USGS) is conducting a program of coal exploration and resource assessment in Armenia. The project is funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) as part of USAID`s emphasis on energy resources in the former Soviet Union. Relatively little is known about the coal resources of Armenia because the Soviet Union had many other sources for fuel. As part of the Soviet Union, Armenia relied on nuclear power, hydropower, or imported power for their electricity and heating needs. Within the Soviet Union, there was a universal centralized system for providing electricity and thus there was little reason to explore for fuel in Armenia. However, with the breakup of the Soviet Union, emphasis has been placed on finding and utilizing indigenous, non-nuclear resources for power generation. The USGS program is conducting exploratory drilling to expand the areas of known resources, characterize the quality of those resources, and estimate the resources in each geographic locality. Armenia`s coal resources are quite variable in terms of age (ranging from Triassic to Oligocene/Miocene), rank (apparent rank ranging from lignite to high volatile A/B bituminous coal), quality, and resource tonnages. Past work previously carried out by the Soviet Ministry of Geology on coal exploration and some early work by the USGS during the current program on the coal resources of Armenia are contained in this report. It is well known that the Soviet system (developed by the USSR Ministry of Geology) and the American system (developed at the USGS) of classifying coal resources are quite similar. Throughout this report, both classifications will be used together. Within the Soviet system, only those coal beds deemed economically viable have official resource estimates (that is, resource estimates approved by the State Committee on Reserves). Only one coal field in Armenia, the Djadjur field, has official estimates. Resource estimates have been calculated for other coal fields in Armenia by the USSR Ministry of Geology (now the Armenian Ministry of Environment and Interior Resources [MEI]) and are contained in this report, but they are not officially approved. All resource estimates contained in this report are from MEI; USGS does not yet have enough new data from the exploration drilling program to calculate new resources. As drilling progresses, new resource estimates will be provided.

• OSTI ID: 324639
• Report Number(s): CONF-970931--
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

01 COAL, LIGNITE, AND PEAT
ARMENIA
COAL DEPOSITS
COAL RESERVES
COMPILED DATA
EXPLORATION
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
RESOURCE ASSESSMENT
US GS