Lignite is a low-ranking, brownish black coal. It is not as soft as peat nor as hard as bituminous coal and has a fibrous earthy texture. Lignite is commonly used as an energy source, usually in a power plant where it is burned as a fuel. But it can also be used as a raw material in the production of lignite briquettes, fertilizers and livestock feed. Oxidized lignite can be used as a thinner for oil well drilling mud, as an industrial water softener and as a soil conditioner. Other uses include chemical feed stocks, like activated carbon, and conversion to synthetic oil and gas. While lignite is present throughout most of northwest Louisiana, potentially mineable lignite also occurs in seven parishes. They are Desoto, Caddo, Bossier, Sabine, Bienville, Natchitoches, and Red River. Lignite seams stretch across the northern part of Louisiana in a broad band at various depths from the Texas border to the northeastern section of the state. Mineable lignite occurrence in Louisiana is associated with the Louisiana portion of the Sabine Uplift, a 65 by 80-mile - 105 by 129-kilometer - relatively flat-topped, asymmetrical dome where two lignite mines are currently in operation.
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