DETAILED DESCnM I'l'IONS OF THE RESPECTIVE COALFIELDS. 85 
that the Korba seam had a thickness of G9 feet and consisted of 
a series of alternations of poor coal and carbonaceous shale, yield- 
ing on the average 37 "28 per cent, of ash. A more promising seam, 
about 5 feet in thickness, occurs near Ghordewa. Assays of this 
seam gave the following figures : — 
IJoriiiK 12 I'i'ct 
Outcrop. lli i'l) at 42!) fift 
from outcrop. 
Moisture 8-52 .'"r30 
Volatile mailer .... 30-03 28-08 
Fixed carbon .... 54-65 53-21 
Ash C-80 13-41 
On the Ganjar stream, 22 miles vvest of Korba, a seam 22 feet 
thick outcrops. The average analysis of the coal yielded 25 per cent, 
of inorganic material. As the coalfield lies not less than 20 miles 
from the railway, and no large amount of good coal has been 
proved it does not offer much inducement to investors. 
Mand river. — This coalfield was partially examined by Blanford ^ 
in 1870, and in more detail by Ball ^ in the following year. 
Although neither was successful in finding workable coal seams of 
good quality they were hopeful that boring operations would be 
successful in bringing them to light. The length of the coalfield 
from north to south is about 35 miles and it lies along the valley 
of the Mand river, the width being about 10 miles on the average. 
There is a large number of coal seams, but their quahty is inferior, 
most of them being httle if any better than carbonaceous shale. 
In 1886, a number of bore-holes were put down by King ^ in the 
neighbourhood of Tuinidih, about 20 miles N. W. of Raigarh. In 
every case the quality of the coal seams was found to be too poor for 
profitable exploitation. 
Rampur. — This, the most eastern portion of the Chhattisgarh 
coal area, extends from the Eeb river for a distance of more than 
50 miles to the north-west reaching within 8 miles of the Mand 
river field. The coal-bearing rocks are exposed over an irregular 
area of about 300 square miles. They were originally described by 
Ball* as the Raigarh-Hingir coalfield, but the present name was 
» Eec, G. S. I., Ill, 71 (1870). 
2 Rec, G. 8. I., XV, 112 (1882). 
Rcc, G. S. I., XIX, 222 (1886) ; XX, 194 (1887). 
* Rec, G. S. I., IV, 101 (1811) ; ibid, VIII, 102 (!87r,). 
