Planning body calls for more coal mine consolidation
China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country's powerful economic planning agency, has called for further consolidation of coal mines to cut the number of small and unsafe mines, Xinhua said Thursday.The NDRC said miners in the key coal producing region of Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Henan and Shaanxi need to further eliminate small mines, while other provinces such as Heilongjiang and Hunan need to step up on consolidation efforts to reduce the overall number of mines.
Further consolidation efforts to cut outdated capacity could again slow production growth in China for the coming year and help support coal import volumes, which have increased strongly since 2008.
According to local media reports, the central government aims to seal off 8,000 small coal mines this year, while the National Energy Administration has estimated that consolidation will slow growth rate of domestic coal production to five percent this year, compared with 12.7 percent in 2009. Without strict enforcement measures, however, many of the mines slated for closure continue to operate illegally in response to the financial lure of China's high demand for coal.
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