China's Major Coal Producing Province to Reduce Number of Mines

China's major coal producing province, Shanxi, will reduce the number of its mines within two years, while increasing the output of each pit and fully mechanizing the mining process.

Li Xiaopeng, Vice Governor of Shanxi Province, said in Beijing on June 9 that Shanxi will further accelerate the closure of small mines and expedite corporate mergers and restructuring. Within two years, the total number of mines in Shanxi will be cut from the current 2,600 to 1,000 and the annual output of each pit will be increased from more than 300,000 tons at present to over 900,000 tons.

The mining process will be mechanized at all the mines. Shanxi will also form three super-large 100 million-ton coal enterprise groups and four large 50 million-ton coal enterprise groups.

Li said Shanxi has proposed investing a total of 650 billion yuan this year and next year to expand domestic demand and maintain economic growth. It has also formulated adjustment and stimulus plans for the eight major industries-coal, coking, metallurgy, electricity, equipment manufacturing, coal chemical, new materials and the food industry.