At the current rate of extraction, the last quantity estimate, conducted less than a decade ago, indicated that there was over 400 years of material residing in the pitch lake.

The pitch lake has a coverage of approximately 100 acres at its surface.

The pitch lake is not inexhaustible. It is thought to be inexhaustible because occasionally, organic matter, which previously was not there, would appear at the surface, fuelling the thought that it came from below and with it, a replenished amount of TLA. Secondly, its miraculous consistency from place to place on its surface, and over the hundreds of years of use, suggests that it has homogenized by constant motion. Thirdly, quantity surveys are conducted from time to time and, despite its rate of extract, its residue is often slightly more than that which the survey suggests that it should be.

TLA possesses its sole origins in Brighton, La Brea. In its crude, unrefined form, it is simply termed “pitch”, or natural asphalt. When refined in its marketable form, it is labeled as TLA.

Asphalt-like deposits found elsewhere in the world are either below water, of a quality not suitable for use in the road industry or are below the earth such that it can be mined, but at some expense, such as those found in the USA, called gilsonite. Surface mining available to TLA does not only make TLA more cost effective, but its high quality, as sanctioned by global asphalt authorities, also bring merit to its claim of “….only commercially viable.”

Other natural asphalt-like, or better yet, tar-like deposits can also be found in Venezuela, Indonesia, Canada and the USA.

To date, TLA is the only commercially viable source of natural asphalt in the world. Trinidad is not the only place to boast of a naturally occurring asphaltic deposit and indeed, scattered all over the world are natural asphalt deposits of varying quality, but in terms of commercially global viability, TLA is unique and singular