Term
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Definition
| United States Geological Survey |
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Term
| What percent of Northern and Central Appalachian regions coal was economically recoverable? |
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Definition
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Term
| Appalachian coal (east) is declining, but what is happening in the west? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is the expected life span of most Powder River Basin existing mines? |
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Definition
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Term
| What influences if coal can be mined at a profit? |
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Definition
1. Mining production costs
2. Current mining machinery
3. Coal transport to the market place
4. Present and near future market conditions
5. The gross calorific value
6. Ash yield
7. Sulfur content of the available coal |
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Term
| What is the cost to produce coal directly related to? |
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Definition
1. amount of rock material that must be moved in mining
2. Relation between the amount of rock material to be moved and the amount of coal that will be produced
3. The ratio of "waste rock to coal" (aka "Stripping ratio") |
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Term
| What is a stripping ratio? |
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Definition
| Ratio of "waste rock to coal"; A stripping ratio of 2:1 means that 2 tons of rock would have to be moved to get a ton of coal |
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Term
| What is the stripping ratio of the Powder River Basin? |
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Definition
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Term
| USGS estimates that what percent of the Gillette coal field of the Powder River Basin is economically recoverable? |
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Definition
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Term
| Where is the Gillete Coal field of Powder River Basin? |
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Definition
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Term
| In 2006, what percent of the Nation's coal came from the Gillette coalfield? |
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Definition
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Term
| What is the coal reserves estimate for the Gillette coalfield? |
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Definition
| 10.1 billion short tons of coal for the six coal beds evaluated |
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Term
| What was the stripping ratio for the portion of coal available after subtracting mining and processing losses in the Gillette coalfield? |
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Definition
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Term
| Where is the Powder River Basin? |
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Definition
| North Central Wyoming and south-east Montana |
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Term
| What were the primary objectives for the USGS report on the Gillette coalfield? |
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Definition
1. Improve geological assurance
2. Develop a more comprehensive in-place coal resource computer model
3. Derive a regional estimate of coal reserves |
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Term
| Before 1950 what was most coal used for? |
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Definition
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Term
| When did coal mining begin in Glenrock and Douglas, WY? |
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Definition
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Term
| Why were power plants built adjacent to producing coal mines? |
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Definition
| National need for additional electrical energy |
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Term
| What is one of the most important coalfields in the US? |
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Definition
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Term
| In addition to coal, what are the other energy commodies currently being developed in the Powder River Basin? |
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Definition
| conventional oil and gas and CBM |
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Term
| Where are the different types of coal in the Powder River Basin? |
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Definition
shallower parts = low rank coal
intermediate depth = middle rank coal
deeper part of basin = high rank coal |
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Term
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Definition
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Term
| What have been the conflicts between coal mining and CBM development? |
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Definition
| Ownership of the CBM - whether it belonged to the owner of the oil and gas estate or the owner of the coal estate |
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Term
| Who does the CBM belong to? |
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Definition
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Term
| Where are the Eocene Wasatch Formation and the Paleoscene Fort Union Formation located? |
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Definition
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Term
| What are the 3 regions taht the Gillette coalfield was divided into? |
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Definition
1. Northing mining area
2. Middle mining area
3. South Mining area |
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Term
| What are the 3 basic phases of study methodology? |
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Definition
Phase I: Data Collecting and Editing
Phase 2: Modeling
Phase 3: Reserve Analysis (Evaluation) |
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Term
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Definition
| Geographic Information System |
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Term
| Who owns 90% of the coal in the Gillette coalfield? |
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Definition
| Federally owned and must be leased in order to be mined |
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Term
| What are some factors that affect the availability of coal? |
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Definition
1. Federally owned?
2. Endangered plant or animals protected?
3. Municipal watersheds are protected
4. Historic sites? Wildlife habitat? Flood plain? |
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Term
| Can rail lines be moved as the mining operations progress? |
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Definition
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Term
| Can roads and highways be relocated to allow for mining? |
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Definition
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Term
| Factors affecting extraction of coal resources: |
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Definition
| Roads; Buildings; Alluvial alley floors; airports; archaeological areas; areas of clinker; coalbed methane walls; hilight gas plant; Oil and Oil related gas wells; pipelines; power lines; power plants; rivers, lakes and streams; towns; statelands |
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Term
| What is the coal resource evaluation program? |
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Definition
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Term
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Definition
| Calculate recoverable coal resources, operating costs and a discounted cash flow at a given rate of return for all of the recoverable coal (that is the part that is economically minable) |
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Term
| What are the operating and maintenance costs at coal-fired power plant negatively affected by? |
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Definition
| increased ash or lower heat BTU |
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Term
| Is coal relatively low in total sulfur content? |
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Definition
| Yes; most minable coal contains less than 1/2 sounds SO2 per million BTu |
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Term
| What is used to perform the economic evaluation to determine coal reserve estimates? |
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Definition
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Term
| What are direct and indirect operating costs? |
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Definition
| Stripping ratio, acquisiton costs, royalties, and taxes |
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Term
| Decreased quality from the south to north mining areas results in what? |
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Definition
| lower sales prices in the respective mining areas |
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Term
| What is currently the only published national summary of potentially minable coal in the US? |
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Definition
| DRB which is updated by the EIA |
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Term
| What usually happens to sales prices of coal over the long term? |
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Definition
| sales price generally increase over the long term and operating costs follow accordingly as long as demand is steady |
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Term
| Increasing coal costs are likely to do what? |
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Definition
| Increase coal production costs |
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Term
| What is something that is not accounted for in the coal mine expansion? |
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Definition
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Term
| Looking at coal quality graph in the Powder River Basin, WY, how much of the coal resource is economic to recover? |
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Definition
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Term
| What are the results of a more realistic methodology for assessing mining restrictions? |
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Definition
| Reduced estimates of the total amount of recoverable coal from previous estimates |
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