Simple Air-Photo Techniques Pare North American's Exploration And Mining Costs ? Introduction

In the Fort Union formation of western North Dakota, eastern Montana and northeastern Wyoming there are immense tonnages of lignite and subbituminous coal that have not yet been evaluated in terms of present economic conditions. Continued expansion of United States energy requirements has focused ever increasing attention on this tremendous resource, particularly as efficiency in mining and transporting of coal, as well as in electrical energy generation and transmission have improved and as hydrogenation and gasification of coal approach economic feasibility. This "total energy" concept for coal includes all of the energy uses that coal offers and has resulted in mergers of oil and coal companies and acquisition of coal re- serves by oil companies, as well as by coal companies and others. There is no doubt that these coals are entering an exciting new era of exploration and development that will result in greatly increased production. As a matter of fact, increased consumption for energy generation is well under way and recognition of the economic feasibility of high-Btu pipeline gas and synthetic petroleum products from coal is imminent. As coal is gradually displaced in steam electric generation by the more exotic fuels and processes, it will be increasingly used as raw material for the synthetic petro-chemical industry and the organic chemical industry.