§ Mr. Pardoeasked the Secretary of State for Energy what proportion of the United Kingdom's known reserves of recoverable coal lies in Scotland.
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§ Mr. EadieClassified reserves in Scotland—those accessible from existing collieries and economically recoverable under current marketing conditions and with current technology—are estimated at some 224 million tons. There are a further 50 million tons of potentially workable reserves in the recently proved deposits at Musselburgh and also some 19 million tons of opencast reserves. These compare with some 5,000 million tons of operating reserves in the country as a whole, plus a further 1,000 million tons in proved new coalfields. On this basis Scottish reserves represent just under 5 per cent. of the national total. It is interesting to note that the NCB estimates the total physically workable reserves in Scotland—those at depths of up to 4,000 ft. and in seams over 2 ft. thick—at about 12,000 million tons. This takes no account of the costs of extraction, of available markets, or of access.