COAL DEPOSITS AND

OCCURENCES
IN ETHIOPIA

Coal exploration in Ethiopia dates back to early

1940s. Coal was mined intensively by the Italians
between 1937 and 1940.

Tigray
Chilga Basin

Afar

Amhara
Mush Valley
Basin
Benishangul-Gumz
Geba Dire Dawa
Dawa
Basin Addis Ababa
Harari
The Geological Survey of Ethiopia and Addis

Gambella ETHIOPIA Ababa University have collaborated to locate and

assess coal deposits and within Ethiopia, in order
Oromia
Somali to respond to critical demand of energy and
Southern Region agricultural inputs.

Coal seams are identified in various parts of

the country, ranging in thickness from a few
centimeters to 4m. Ethiopia’s total known coal
deposits have been inferred to be 600 million
Deleb - Moye Basin tons, of which 70% is from Geba Basin.
The geological setting of Ethiopian coal deposits and occurrences
are grouped under Pre-Trap (organic matter formed on Mesozoic
sedimentary rocks and later covered by Pre-rift basalt, trachyte and Because of the commercial viability
rhyolite) and Inter-Trappen lavas (those covered by younger volcanic
of coal and lignite seam develop-
formations). As a result, Ethiopian coal seams are characterized by high
ash content, low moisture and high to medium volatile matter. Generally, ment, considerable land area, and
the coal seams are classified as humic, sapropelic and mixed coal with potential for open-pit mining, the
the former variety predominating over the others. Coal deposits in Delbi-Moye coal deposit represents
Ethiopia also include soft coal series of lignite to sub-bituminous rank.
a significant opportunity.

The quality of the coal located

RESERVE around Dilbi and Moye can be used
(106 AREA
COAL DEPOSITS metric ton) RANK (km2) for thermal combustion.
1 Chilga Basin 20 LIgnite 4
2 Geba Basin 250 Lignite to bituminous 41 In the Delbi area, there is also op-
3 Gojeb-Chida-Waka 9.5 Sib-bituminous – portunity for the development of
4 Mush Valley Basin 0.3 Lignite 1.2 oil and shale gas for thermal power.
5 Robit-Mersa Coal 4 Lignite –
6 Deleb-Moye Basin 41 Lignite to bituminous –

COAL OCCURENCES
7 Arjo (Getema)
8 Debre Libanos N
9 Jiren
10 Muger
11 Nejo
12 Seka
13 Mendi

To learn more please visit the following websites:

www.mom.gov.et | www.gse.gov.et | cirdi.ca