China’s NDRC approves new regulation to strengthen planning and management of coal mining areas

This photo taken on Aug. 1, 2024, shows the working area of the Huayang No. 2 Coal Mine in Yangquan City, north China's Shanxi Province. (Photo/Xinhua)

China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country's top economic planner, on Monday approved a regulation on the planning and management of the nation's coal mining areas, as part of broader efforts to enhance coal resource utilization and try to secure a reliable energy supply.

For coal production areas with a total mining capacity exceeding 10 million tons annually, the comprehensive mining plan should first be reviewed by provincial coal mining management departments, and subsequently submitted to the NDRC for review and approval, the regulation said. The benchmark for NDRC approval was 3 million tons of coal, according to the provisionary version of the regulation which will take effect on July 3, 2012.

The regulation showed that the comprehensive plan for coal mining areas with a total capacity of 10 million tons or less annually, is subject to approval by provincial coal mining management departments, and filed with the NDRC and National Energy Administration (NEA) for record.

The regulation also noted that for mining areas that are critical to the national strategies and national economic development, its mining plan could be organized and implemented by the NDRC and the NEA. The regulation will become effective on February 1, 2025.

China continues to pursue its "dual-carbon" goals by increasing the capacity of new-energy power, while maintaining thermal coal power as a critical backup for energy supply.

NEA's latest data showed that by the end of November 2024, China's total installed power generation capacity reached 3.23 billion kilowatts, a year-on-year increase of 14.4 percent, with thermal coal capacity reaching 1.43 billion kilowatts.

In the first 10 months of this year, the national raw coal output by large-scale enterprises amounted to 3.89 billion tons, marking a 1.2 percent year-on-year increase, the highest level ever recorded for the same period.

In terms of coal transportation, since November, China's railway sector has completed an average of 87,680 coal transport per day, a year-on-year increase of 3.3 percent, Xinhua News Agency reported.