overview

Key Learning Objectives

• The inherent variability between coal based projects and the drivers and implications that are a consequence of this
• Understand the distinct Australian context of coal base projects, with due reference to global coal mining and CSG resource plays
• How coal seams form and how they change with time
• The major technical/geological reasons why projects fail
• The important interplay between hydrology and coal seams, in light of current controversies relating to connectivity with agricultural aquifers and dewatering in general
• Understand coal geology and the implications of gas emissions and a carbon trading world

About the Course

This is a comprehensive training course reviewing the fundamentals of coal geology.

Coal geology is the fundamental building block that underpins successful CSG, mining and many environmental projects.

The course begins with a review of the global coal and coal seam gas industry, and the likely future directions based on the current project pipeline and demand scenarios.

The details of coal geology, how it’s formed, stratigraphy, the chemistry of coal, understanding reservoirs, groundwater and the different types of coal beds around Australia are reviewed.

Geological risk is a key factor in any economic decision made about coal or CSG investments. Therefore it helps to have a better understanding of how to assess a coal basin play and then evaluate one and the difference between mining and gas plays.

The specific key aspects of coal plays that affect CSG operations and how to deal with variability in the subsurface and the relationships between groundwater, CSG and agriculture will be examined.

Finally, underground coal gasification, sequestration and storage will also be reviewed, along with issues with overlapping tenures and other CSG techniques.

Who Will Benefit

• Petroleum engineers, mining engineers and geologists
• Geologists who may have come from another discipline (eg. hard rock or petroleum geology) and are now working closely with coal or CSG
• Potential investors wishing to make sense out of ASX announcements and understand the key requirements for success
• Hydrologists and environmental professionals wishing to understand the interplay between coal seams and water
• CSG managers who wish to understand the drivers behind CSG variability across a range of basins and achieve a global perspective on how their play compares with others
• Anyone wishing to establish a basic understanding of coal geology