China's major coal production region in full throttle to ensure supplies

HOHHOT, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- Ordos in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, a major coal production hub, is making efforts to raise production to cope with the country's rising energy demand in the coming winter and spring.

The regional departments of energy and land resources have jointly facilitated the approval procedures for new coal mine production to ensure the supply.

China has taken a slew of measures to cope with the emergency of tightened power supply since September.

Ordos has so far boosted its daily output to over 2.1 million tonnes, reaching the peak since the beginning of this year.

The city has newly approved a total of 107 open-pit coal mines with temporary land use approval, with a ratified production capacity of 169 million tonnes, since the beginning of this year.

By October, the city had 225 coal mines in normal production, with a total production capacity of 640 million tonnes a year.

Power outages in September had halted factory production and hit families in some regions.

Thermal power still takes up a large share of China's energy output, accounting for about 70 percent of the country's power generation.