Availability of low-sulphur coal in Mingo County, West Virginia

Coal-bearing rocks of the Kanawha Formation of Middle Pennsylvanian age and the Allegheny Formation of Middle and Late Pennsylvanian age crop out in Mingo County in the southwestern part of the West Virginia coal field.

The Kanawha Formation contains approximately 36 coal beds, 18 of which are locally 28 inches or more thick and contain recoverable reserves of medium-volatile and high-volatile A bituminous coal; 10 of these beds are bw-sulfur coal, and 5 beds are medium-sulfur coal. Analyses are not available for 2 beds. The Allegheny contains 6 coal beds, only one of which has been mined. This coal bed is low-sulfur high-volatile C bituminous coal.

Latest estimates of recoverable reserves in Mingo County (1954) show that 19 beds contain 1,365 million tons. Production from 1954 to January 1, 1967, was about 90 million tons. Remaining recoverable reserves as of January 1, 1967, therefore, totaled about 1,275 million tc:.3 of which 1,103 million tons are believed to be low-sulfur coal and 172 million tons are medium-sulfur coal.