Name: Mohamad Farouq Arifin NIM: 13010073 TK4027 Kimia Dan Teknologi Batubara Chemistry and Technology of Coal

On the following will be elaborated the data and facts of coal resources and reserves both in the world and specifically in Indonesia. But it should be noted that the two terminologies, resource vs. reserve, should be differentiated first since both are rather different.

1. Terminology Comparison, Resource vs. Reserve Coal resource is defined as the actual amount of coal available in the ground, and is inferred using scientific estimation and direct geological measurements. The amount is estimated across different locations in the world and is treated as general information. In other hand, coal reserve is defined as the amount of coal in any particular place that could be feasibly and economically mined and extracted under current economical and technological conditions. This definition is more widely used since it can represent the current actual power of coal potentials for different regions. Both numbers are not exact since they are merely estimations of actual numbers, but the sure thing is that the coal resource amount will always be greater than the reserve amount since the amount of coals that could be extracted is always smaller due to various constraints. However, compared to the resource amount, the reserve amount is subjected to greater changing and variations since technological advances would increase the value greatly, enabling more coals to be obtained. Thus it is expected in many years to come that the coal reserve amount to be approaching more the resource amount.

2. World data and facts Throughout the world, it is estimated that there are 861 GT (Gigatonnes) of recoverable coal reserves around the world by year 2008, as demonstrated in Figure 1.

Figure 1 World Coal Reserves (World Energy Council, 2008)

USA leads on recoverable reserves with 237 GT, where Russia and China followed with 157 GT and 115 GT, respectively. Meanwhile, Australia and India placed themselves on 4th and 5th position with 77 GT and 61 GT of potential. Indonesia on the other hand, has about 21 GT of coal reserves (Geological Agency, 2010) and will be explained more in the next chapter. 3. Indonesian data and facts Indonesia ranks as the 14th country with the largest coal reserves. However, currently Indonesia is the largest exporter of coal in the world, trailed by Australia as the 2nd largest coal exporter. The total resource in Indonesia is a whopping amount of 105 GT, approximately 1% of worlds total coal resources of 10 TT (Teratonnes). Only a fifth of the amount, about 21 GT, is recoverable reserves, as seen on Figure 2.

Figure 2 Indonesian Coal Resources (Geological Agency, 2010)

Out of the total resources, more than 90% is located in Sumatra and Borneo with 52,44 GT and 51,92 GT, respectively, recording as the 2 largest coal producing region in Indonesia. The other islands such as Celebes, Papua, and to a much smaller extent, Java and Moluccas, have only 0,4 GT of coal resources. Detailed information about coal resource and reserve in Indonesia is shown on Figure 3.

Figure 3 Indonesian Coal Resources and Reserves based on Calorific Value (Geological Agency, 2010)

References: http://www.groundtruthtrekking.org/Issues/AlaskaCoal/CoalTerminology.html US Energy Information and Administration Indonesian Coal Resources Development And Future Direction Of Coal Export, International Symposium Clean Coal Day In Japan 2011 September 6 7, 2011; Ministry Of Energy And Mineral Resources Of The Republic Of Indonesia, Directorate General Of Mineral And Coal.