DEPTHS IN 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th Moisture Ash Samples of Coal from Seam in No. 3 Bore-hole, Pasana River, Mand Valley. TOTAL 4'54 4'74 5°12 484 4'94 456 424 448 3.80 3.62 344 336 276 3.36 Volatile mat- 2478 25'74 24 82 25'66 26°36 25'94 25'56 25'94 24°44 29'64 23°24 27°44 24°24 23°48 22 80 2120 21'92 21°54 2006 24°46 31st 32nd 33rd 34th 35th 36th 37th 38th 39th 40th 486 482 4'62 41st moisture). Fixed carbon 30°30 30°92 28'92 30°24 30°98 33'22 30°46 29°12 26 36 20 46 2468 28°00 22°82 22°42 23°32 22°12 24°12 22°90 21.68 26°49 Average. 3'00 2.88 N.B.-Does not cake. Ash, light grey. 40'06 38°52 4164 39°56 37°92 35°72 39 14 40°00 44'64 45'66 47'60 40°76 49°32 50 66 50°52 53'92 50 60 52°56 55°38 44'95 B 10000 10000 10000 10000 10000 10000 10000 10000 100°00′ 100°00 100°00 100'00 100'00 100'00 100'00 100°00 100*00 100 ̊00 100°00 100'00 from the borings were assayed in the laboratory with the following result:any, being concealed under the water and sand of stream. Samples of 19 feet of this The boring also showed a higher seam than that just described, its outcrop, if of thirteen feet, being alone up to the standard of average Indian coal. This coal is quite unfit for railway purposes; the 1st and 9th foot, in a thickness Four bore holes were run down in this area, by which it was ascertained that there are two other seams, four in all, above those assayed; but they are thin and inferior in quality. The area containing these is very small, only about a square mile in extent; quite large enough however, had either of the thick seams been of any good, to have given a large amount of fuel. The representatives of the same measures to the north of Tumidih, on the Nagoi side, are even poorer than those of the Pasana nala, being merely a succession of grey and carbonaceous shales, with thin bands, or layers, of inferior coal; and this condition of affairs only agrees with what had already been observed for many miles to the north by Mr. Ball and myself. There was therefore really no use in wasting more time or money in this direction. Korba, and its neighbourhood.-Two borings were started at Korba, on the river bank opposite the town; and a cross-cut was made in the great exposure or outcrop of shales and coal in the river bed. Two borings were likewise put down near Sumheda, or rather Ghordewa, on the Aharan river, near Hira Lal's outcrop, into which a fresh cut was made. Korba. The cutting in the Has du was made in the most favourable-looking part of the outcrop, or about the middle, and gave us samples of 38 feet of the coal and shale. Thirty-five feet of this gave an average of 34°15 of ash. The best assays were: 1 Records, G. S. I., XIX, p. 223, 2nd para. 18'90 27:16 20:56 20'84 21'84 18.72 It is very difficult, if not impossible, to compare the results in this cross-cut with those ascertained in 1870 during Mr. Blanford's examination, for the latter was made by cuttings at good places throughout the whole measured outcrop, and it may be that Hira Lal did not touch on the 4 feet of good coal noted by Mr. Blanford, which gave the average : Carbon 57'5. Volatiles and moisture 25'2. Ash 173. The lower two feet yielding Carbon 60'5. Volatiles and moisture 29'5. Ash 10'0. But we can fall back on the boring, which, though not made in the bed of the river and thus in the coal outcrop, was nevertheless run down in the inland western extensions of what appears to be the same seam through 69 feet of shale and coal, the thickness of the great seam at that point. Unfortunately there is no such good band of coal shown by the boring samples; all the coal is bad; and, again, a list of the samples recorded by us would be only a wearisome tale for tabulation or reading in the present paper. The average ash is 37°28 per cent.; and the only section of the bore hole worth looking at is as follows: No. of feet. I Moisture. 2 3 4 5 5'92 5.82 6:00 512 Average excluding No. 2 Average of the whole seam. This 4-ft. band may answer to Mr. Blanford's band "h" but in any case the whole series of assays from this boring go very much against the outcrop, while they again cast a cloud of doubt on the reliability of boring assays. I examined all the country on the Korba side of the river and the outcrops in the Sitamanda and Kachendi streams, but without finding any improvement on the coal of the main outcrop. Moisture. Volatiles, exclusive of Ghordewa. Owing to lateness in the season we were only able to start two borings at this place, the first of which, at 429 feet from the outcrop and on the dip, went through the coal at 72 feet from surface (we had calculated on 70'-80'). The other boring No. 2 was estimated to cut the coal at 200 feet from the surface, but could only be carried down 153 feet. Here, for a wonder, the boring assays have not be-lied the promising outcrop to anything like the damaging extent exhibited in other parts of Chhattisgarh; but so remarkable an exception, for these fields, in the way of outcrop and boring assays must be well corroborated before venturing on colliery development. 8.80 5:56 778 8:40 28.36 27:28 The seam at the outcrop is 5 feet 3 inches thick; and the fresh cut made in it yielded assays as below: 8:32 27'20 24'56 Analysis of Coal from the Outcrop in the Aharan between Sumedha and Ghordewa. 8:32 7'77 Fixed carbon. Volatile matter, 37'40 39:28 39'14 42'32 25.80 17:58 28.84 28:28 30.58 28:37 22.21 Fixed carbon. Ash. 57'42 48.96 28:32 27.64 55'74 56:36 52°42 27.66 28.00 55'48 54:18 Ash, Colour of the ash. 7'98 27'90 8:02 Brown. 6.96 8.68 7'91 11'90 On the other hand, the boring shows the coal to be somewhat thicker, six feet having been pierced; though this must be reduced a little on account of the dip The samples from it give the following results : Analysis of Coal from boring north of Ghordewa. A. Volatile matter, Lillari valley, Oira valley, 28.20 29.76 27:06 27'58 27.80 21.08 No. 1. Chowdibahal No. 5. Kaliabahal 28.08 19 19 No. 6. Bonjari Fixed carbon. 52'30 52'14 52'92 53'96 54'70 39'34 53°20 Ash. 14°22 12'58 14.80 The lowest foot of the boring samples can only be called a shale, a condition to be reasonably expected in a coal seam, thus leaving nearly five feet of fairly good coal, as Indian coals go. A comparison with the outcrop assays will show, however, that even in so short a distance as 429 feet, the layers of the seam do not keep up uniformity, there being no bottom layer in the outcrop answering to the shale of the bore section; while the latter has no representative of the stony band (second foot from top) of the outcrop. All, then, that can be safely reckoned on is about 4 feet of coal throughout; say, in a circle whose diameter is 429 feet: it being quite possible, of course, that such a condition of affairs may exist far beyond so limited an area as this. Extended boring can only prove an extended area. 13.30 12'16 34°38 Résumé of experience gained.—I have now examined by boring, and I think sufficiently so, the separate areas in Hingir, Rampur, and the Baisandar valley, which have been grouped as 13'41 1 Records, G. S. I., XIX, 210. C. Baisandar valley, Colour of the ash. under the one official heading of the Rampur coal-field, The best seams of the Lillari valley borings gave average ash percentages at1: 44°18 44'43 40'23 39'31 The Oira valley borings yielded coal carrying 42'71 per cent. of ash, or worse. The Baisandar valley gave no better assays: but here, for the first time, some doubt arose as to the possible unreliability of boring samples, owing to the difference observed between outcrop and bore samples. No better results have been obtained from the latest borings in the Mand valley or from Korba itself. |