Muddy Creek coal drilling project, Wasatch Plateau, Utah (SS-55)

By: A. D. Smith

Twenty-seven drill holes successfully tested the Lower Blackhawk Formation coal zones and penetrated the Star Point Sandstone on the Wasatch Plateau in central Utah. Reserve calculations show a total in-place measured, indicated, and inferred tonnage of 561,572,000 short tons, but not all of this coal will be recoverable. The coal is contained in 3 coal beds, the Muddy No. 1; 9,676,000 tons, Upper Hiawatha; 348,863,000 tons and Hiawatha; 203,033,000 tons, in the lower 298 feet of the Upper Cretaceous Blackhawk Formation. Perhaps 232,976,000 tons of the total may be recoverable.

The rank of the coal is high volatile C bituminous, and quality and trace elements were determined from samples taken from five drill holes from minable thicknesses of coal. The average proximate analysis, as received, is moisture, 7.4 percent; ash, 10.8 percent; volatile, 38.3 percent; and fixed carbon, 43.5 percent. The report also lists ultimate, sulfur forms, and trace element analyses. No adverse results were found in either sulfur forms or trace elements. Methane content was determined by the U.S. Bureau of Mines “Direct Method” to be less than one cubic centimeter per gram of coal and the use of normal ventilation techniques should be adequate in mining.

Other Information:
Published: 1981
Pages: 57 p.
Location: Sanpete and Sevier Counties
Media Type: Paper Publication