Shanxi, the largest coal producing province in
China, is to sell three mines with combined reserves of up to 300
million tons by June.
Each of the mines has reserves of between 50-100 million tons,
according to an official with the trading center of Shanxi Land and
Resource Bureau.
Two of the mines are located in the counties of Lanxian and
Xiangfen. The location of the third has not been disclosed.
The resource-rich province will sell the mining rights through a
competitive bidding process, the official said. "We have received
approval from the provincial government," he added.
Industry regulations stipulate that coalmines with reserves of
more than 100 million tons have to receive national-level approval
before they can be sold.
Those with less than 100 million tons can be sold with approval
from the provincial government.
The government official yesterday refused to reveal the period
of time the rights would be sold for, how much they wanted for them
and whether foreign investors would be permitted to become
involved.
Huang Teng, a senior industry consultant, who previously worked
with China Coal, the country's second-biggest coal producer, said
government policies didn't block foreign control of coalmines
except for those extracting coking coal which was in scarce supply.
.
A researcher with the Ministry of Land and Resources, who
declined to be identified, yesterday said the government was
cautious about approving foreign ownership of China's fuel
resources.
China is the world's largest coal producer and consumer. Last
year the country produced 2.1 billion tons of coal which helped
drive its fast-growing economy. A quarter this figure came from
Shanxi Province.
Wu Chenghou, executive director of the China Coal Sales and
Transportation Association, said earlier that coal production this
year was expected to be 2.26 billion tons while demand had been
estimated at 2.25 billion tons.
China, the world's second-largest energy user after the United
States, depends on coal for about 70 percent of its needs.
Coal will continue to be the country's primary energy source for
the coming decades, industry analysts have said.
Meanwhile, the Chinese government has invited bids to build
three wind farms which will have a total capacity of 700 MW
(megawatts) the nation's top economic planning body said.
The cost of wind these farms could be as high 7 billion yuan
(US$863 million), an industry analyst suggested, saying costs could
be up to 10,000 yuan (US$1,233) per kilowatt.
A wind power plant of 300 MW will be built in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in north
China.
Another with a capacity of 200 MW will be built elsewhere in the
autonomous region and the third in Hebei Province, the National Development and
Reform Commission (NDRC) said yesterday said on its website.
This is the fourth round of competitive bidding the NDRC has
conducted for wind farm construction in China since 2003. By the
end of last year China had built wind farms with a total capacity
of 1,260 MW. This figure is scheduled to increase to 30,000 MW by
2020 the NDRC has said.
National wind power facility manufacturers are being encouraged
to participate in this bidding process.
Shi Pengfei, vice president of the Chinese Wind Energy
Association, said yesterday this would help increase domestic
companies' involvement in the projects. The government has stated
that at least 70 percent of generation facilities must be
manufactured domestically.
And price will not be the only determining factor.
"Prices now count for only 30 percent towards whether a firm
wins a bid compared with the previous 40 percent," Shi told
China Daily yesterday.
The remaining 70 percent would be decided by the quality of
equipment, a company's operations and management, he added.
(China Daily April 18, 2006)