KENTUCKY COAL RESERVES: EFFECTS ON COAL INDUSTRY STRUCTURE AND OUTPUT

The quantity and quality of land with coal reserves in a region act as the long run limits to industry output and are a primary determinant of industry structure. The present reserve base in Kentucky seems quite large relative to current output rates, and exhaustion appears to be a very distant problem. Nevertheless, the effects of the land constraint on the Kentucky coal industry structure and growth prospects over the next decade may be considerable. This report includes a survey of the conceptual links between the land factor and the coal industry. Output growth in Kentucky during the 1955-1972 period is examined from an industry structure point of view. Changes in output are described in terms of changes in average mine size and number of mines. These structural variables are also compared with the same statistics for the nation and for the states of West Virginia and Illinois. This comparative analysis yields some insight into changes in the relative ranking of Kentucky coal lands. The impact of surface mining technology on the Kentucky coal industry is stressed.

• Corporate Authors:

  University of Kentucky, Lexington

  Institute for Mining and Minerals Research
  Lexington, KY  United States  40511
• Publication Date: 1975-11

Media Info

• Features: References;
• Pagination: 23 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Coal resources; Forecasting; Freight traffic; Traffic forecasting
• Geographic Terms: Kentucky
• Subject Areas: Freight Transportation; Planning and Forecasting; Railroads;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00163259
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Engineering Index
• Report/Paper Numbers: IMMR-6-PD5-75
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Oct 13 1977 12:00AM