COAL AVAILABILITY STUDIES, FRUITLAND AND MENEFEE FORMATIONS, SAN JUAN BASIN NEW MEXICO

HOFFMAN, Gretchen, K., and JONES, Glen E., New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, Socorro, NM 87801Two San Juan Basin studies were completed through the USGS National Coal Availability program. The study areas are in the northwest Bisti field, Fruitland Formation and in the eastern Standing Rock field, Menefee Formation. In the Bisti and Standing Rock areas, original coal resources are estimated at 4.66 and 3.17 Gt (5.14 and 3.49 billion st), respectively. The Bisti coal resources are greatly reduced by the Bisti-De-Na-Zin wilderness area, which contains an estimated 1.13 Gt (1.25 billion st) of coal. Technological restrictions remove 32.5% from Standing Rock's original resource. Available resources are 60% 2.79 Gt (3.07 billion st) of the Bisti original resource and 65%, 2.07 Gt (2.64 billion st) of the original Standing Rock resource.