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132 CHAPTER FIVE
Lignite Bituminous coal
Subbituminous coal Anthracite
FIGURE 5.1 Coal fields of the United States.
United States (Fig. 5.1) (27.1 percent of the world reserves), FSU (former Soviet Unoin)
(25.0 percent), China (12.6 percent), India (10.2 percent), Australia (8.6 percent), and
South Africa (5.4 percent) (Fig. 5.2).
Europe
North America
Asia
Australia
Africa
South America
FIGURE 5.2 Global distribution of coal reserves.
Recoverable reserves are those quantities of coal which geologic and engineering infor-
mation indicates with reasonable certainty can be extracted in the future under existing
economic and operating conditions (Balat, 2007).
Global coal recoverable reserves are estimated to be on the order of 909 billion tonnes
(equivalent to 1102.3 billion tons, where 1 tonne = 2240 lb and 1 ton = 2000 lb) that
occur in the following regions: North America (28.0 percent), South and Central America
(2.2 percent), Europe and Eurasia (31.6 percent), Africa (5.5 percent), and Asia Pacific
