The Heilongjiang Longmei Mining (Group) Co Ltd, a conglomerate of four major state-owned coal mining companies in the province, was launched recently in Harbin, the provincial capital.

The new group is composed of Jixi, Hegang, Shuangyashan and Qitaihe coal companies, all giants of the province's coal industry.

The new group is planning a listing in Hong Kong as early as this year, according to Li Qingjun from the Heilongjiang State Assets Regulatory and Management Commission, which holds the majority stake in the group.

With proven coal reserves of 22.4 billion tons, Heilongjiang is one of China's provinces rich in the resource.

The province's annual coal output has exceeded 80 million tons. And the four coal companies account for more than 60 percent of this figure.

The new group, with registered assets of 13 billion yuan (US$1.5 billion), is expected to raise its annual coal output to 100 million tons and achieve an annual revenue of 20 billion yuan (US$2.4 billion).

This strategic restructuring of the four coal companies marked the province's first step in building itself into one of the major coal production bases in China, Hu Xiangding, director of the Heilongjiang State Assets Regulatory and Management Commission, said at the group's inauguration.

The emergence of the new group is in response to China's determination to establish 13 large-scale coal production bases in the country, experts say.

"This move can avoid redundant construction and the vicious competition among the four originally separate coal companies and sharpen the core competitiveness of the province in the national coal market," Li told China Daily.

The new group has formed a co-operation with Japanese investor Itochu Corporation.

But details of the agreement are unavailable.

(China Daily January 4, 2005)