Shanxi, China's largest coal-producing province, plans to put
the brakes on the further expansion of coal mining in the next five
years. The move is part of tough measures to clean up the sector's
record of contributing to environmental damage, the wastage of
resources and mine disasters.
Shanxi Governor Yu
Youjun made the pledge at a press conference Sunday night on
the sidelines of the current legislative session in Beijing. Yu
added that the provincial government aims to upgrade the region
into a "new energy and resource base."
"We cannot continue the rough way of development any more and
must limit coal production strictly with the guidance of the
scientific concept of development," Yu said.
As China aims to build a more efficient and
environmentally-friendly economy, efficiency in the coal industry
is now a growing concern. Official statistics showed it takes 2.45
tons of water on average in China to produce a ton of coal. The
coal production rate in many small mines is as low as 25 percent,
and some byproducts, such as the coal-bed methane, is often
wasted.
North China's Shanxi Province produced 600 million tons of coal
last year, accounting for 26 percent of China's coal output. Yu
said Shanxi can guarantee an annual output of 700 million tons in
the next five years, about a quarter of the country's predicted
coal demand, by increasing the coal recovery rate the amount of
coal that can be extracted from the coal-bed without more mining.
It is currently shutting down the mines with an annual output below
90,000 tons and pushing those producing less than 200,000 tons per
year to introduce more advanced, environmentally-friendly
technologies.
"We will also introduce strategic partners to establish
large-scale coal mine groups with highly competitive and advanced
technologies," he said.
What's more, the local government will promote merger and
acquisitions to reduce the number of mines to 2,500 by 2010 and
ensure 80 percent of the province's coal output comes from mines
with an annual capacity above 1 million tons, said Yu.
Shanxi has shut down 4,876 illegal mines since last September
and punished about 1,200 people, including more than 60 local
officials who turned a blind eye to the illegal operations of the
mines they invested in or harbored.
Coal accounted for 66 percent in China's energy supply last year
and is going to remain the top priority in the long-term energy
strategy of China, which is wary of the heavy reliance on imported
oil. China is now the world's second largest oil importer after the
United States.
Yu said it is a priority in Shanxi's 11th
Five-Year Guidelines (2006-10) to develop the more value-added
coal chemical industries such as power-generating coke, coke oven
gas and alcohol-ether fuel, in addition to fostering equipment
manufacturing, the development of new resources and tourism.
About half of the coke supply in the world market is from
Shanxi.
The province is not only famous for black coal. It also boasts
many brilliant cultural legacies such as the Yungang Grottoes in
Datong and well-preserved grand courtyards, formerly the homes of
the country's richest bankers in ancient times.
Yu, previously the mayor of Shenzhen in south China's
Guangdong Province, will lead a delegation to Hong Kong in
early July to promote local business projects to overseas
investors.
(China Daily March 7, 2006)