COAL AND COALBED METHANE RESOURCE POTENTIAL OF THE BOWSER BASIN, NORTHERN BRITISH-COLUMBIA

The Bowser Basin covers approximately 50,000 km2 within the northern p art of the Intermontane Belt in northwestern British Columbia. The Gro undhog coalfield encompasses approximately 5,000 km2 in the north-cent ral part of the basin. Coal exploration in the coalfield for the last 100 years and a number of published research projects provide the raw data for an assessment of the potential coal and coalbed methane resou rce of the Groundhog coalfield. The main coal-bearing sequence in the coalfield is of Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous age and outcrops on all four sides of the northwest-trending Mount Beirnes synclinorium, w hich is the most prominent regional structure in the coalfield. The ra nk of the coal varies from sem-anthracite to meta-anthracite. Coal sea ms are up to 7 m thick, and cumulative coal thickness in the coal-bear ing section ranges up to 53 m. The coalfield contains a potential reso urce of 37 billion metric tons of coal. The estimated potential coalbe d methane resource of the Groundhog coalfield is 228 billion m3 or 8 t rillion cubic feet (tcf). The recoverable reserves will be considerabl y less. The resource value is large, but the complex structure within the Beirnes synclinorium may make recovery difficult. An adsorption is otherm on a drill-core sample of anthracite from the Groundhog coalfie ld corroborates Kim's (1977) prediction of the high adsorptive capacit y of coal of this rank at low pressure and temperature.