THE KURASFA COALFIELD. 
208 
once existed as a thick sories, it has since been largely denuded 
away and perhaps previously faulted up. 
But the coal at Karar Khoh is so tliick that it would repay 
^ ^ working, even if boring should prove the 
Quantity o coa existence of only a relatively small area of 
thick coal. Assuming a uniform rate of thinning from Karar 
Khoh to Dubpani, Diwan .Jhaiia, and Kaolilian Kundi, the maxi- 
mum possible area of 10' thickness and upwards appears to be 
about 2 square miles ; but, allowing for a rather sudden thin- 
ning, one should not count on more than 1 to 1^ square miles 
of this thickness. But it is of course possible that the series 
may retain a thickness of at least 20 feet over as large an area 
as a square mile. In order that the prospective miner may know 
what quantity of coal he might expect to prove, it is sufficient 
to state that 1 square mile of area, if of 10' thickness, corresponds 
to 10'9 million tons of coal, and, if of 20' thickness, to twice 
that amount, namely, 218 million tons. Considering all the data, 
it seems to me likely that boring operations in this locahty will 
prove the existence of at least 7 million tons of coal of good 
quality within one square mile, with the possibihty of anything 
between this amount and 20 to 30 million tons. 
Attention has been concentrated on the Karar Khoh series 
(horizon 4), but a glance at the list in table 
9 will show that the possibility of workable 
coal in horizon 5 round Bartunga Hill may be worth consideration. 
Horizon 5 does not, however, cover a greater area than about 
I square mile in Bartunga Hill. 
C. — General. 
In view of the excellent quality of the coal in the two portions 
of this field — Kurasia and Chirmiri — and 
ingth^K^rakS™" ^he considerable quantities of such coal that 
in all likehhood exist, probably some 10 to 
20 million tons in each area, with possibilities of considerably 
larger amounts, this field is well worth the expenditure of con- 
siderable sums on boring operations. The chief difficulties that 
will be encoimtered in this field are probably small faults, and 
rapid changes in the thickness of the seams, 
