China to close nearly two thousand small coal mines

[logpedia]

China will close 1,725 small-scale mines with a total capacity of 117.48 million tonnes in 2014 as part of its programme to phase out low-quality coal production. 

China has been desperate to reduce coal consumption, a major source of pollutants, including hazardous airborne particulate matter in the country's cities.

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[andyexplorer]

If they stopped building a coal fired power station a week , it might help
There are aslo many thousands of illegal coal mines in China , with appalling safety records (if any safety at all) , maybe it's these they are trying to close ,after all you can't have all those pesky peasents buying cheap illegal coal to help them stay alive

[Wheldale]

I read that it's all mines producing less than 90,000 tonnes a year, this includes the illegal ones.

The Chinese are also investing heavily in CCS, I reckon the Chinese will master this and sell it world wide.

[Minutor]

As usual in China things are not always what they seem to be! Yes they are closing small mines but there is a concerted effort to modernise the the industry and in 2013 alone there were 15 new large mines approved with a total production capacity north of 100 million tonnes, the five year plan which concludes in 2015 calls for 860 million tonnes of new capacity and their is no doubt they will achieve that.

Their plan is to create large coal hubs which will generate electcrity to be delivered by a rapidly expanding national grid. The hubs are a combination of mines, power plants and coal chemical plants and they are reported to be on a scale not seen anywhere else. Rumours are that a 46 million tonne mine was approved at the end of last year but I can't find confirmation. Total coal production is being estimated at 4.1 billion to 4.7 billion tonnes per annum by the end of 2015. China also imports about 300 million tonnes a year which is mainly coking coal and PCI coal.