Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, January 17, 2004
Inner Mongolia aims to be China's top coal producer
North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has listed the coal industry as a priority development sector and is hoping to become the country's leading coal producer by 2010.
North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has listed the coal industry as a priority development sector and is hoping to become the country's leading coal producer by 2010.
The region will produce 500 million tons of coal by 2010, replacing Shanxi Province, the country's biggest coal producer at present, as China's top coal producer, said an official from the regional coal industry bureau.
Inner Mongolia, one of China's main pastoral areas, has 225.6 billion tons of coal reserves and has six large coalfields with verified coal reserves of 10 billion tons each.
The region turned out 150 million tons of coal last year, a record high, and was second only to Shanxi by coal output. The coal output this year is set at 200 million tons, said the official.