The first China-made 2,210 kilowatt coal mining machine passed check and appraisal on Saturday in the northwestern Shaanxi Province, reducing the reliance on exports. [Xinhua]

The first China-made 2,210 kilowatt coal mining machine passed check and appraisal on Saturday in the northwestern Shaanxi Province, reducing the reliance on exports.

Trial operation showed the remote control machine, produced by Xi'an Coal Mining Machine Co. Ltd, can mine eight million tons of coal annually, according to the Shaanxi Provincial Science and Technology Department.

The price for each was 16 million yuan (2.3 million U.S. dollars), more than 40 percent lower than exported ones.

China's coal production doubled in the recent decade and reached 2.5 billion tons last year. But it can only produce coal mining machine with power capacity below 1,800 kw. Machines above 2,000-kw were exported from the U.S. and Germany.

(Xinhua News Agency December 14, 2008)