Nation invests in coal exploration By Wang Ying (China Daily) Updated: 2006-06-20 08:55
China, the world's biggest coal producer and consumer, plans to spend about
40 billion yuan (US$5 billion) by 2020 exploring for coal reserves across the
nation, a top energy official said.
The country aims to secure about 170
billion tons of coal reserves, Xu Dingming, head of the energy bureau under the
National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said.
"The budget will
be used between 2003 and 2020 to boost the nation's coal resources," said Xu,
but he declined to disclose how much the country has spent up to now.
The
move reflects the nation's vigorous efforts to secure sufficient energy
resources in fuelling its fast growing economy, which grew by 10.3 per cent in
the first quarter.
China so far has commercially recoverable coal
reserves of 288 billion tons, with total estimated coal resources of 5.5
trillion tons, according to Zhang Yuzhuo, vice-president of China's biggest coal
firm Shenhua Group.
"Companies are reluctant to invest in exploration due
to its high risks, so we (the government) should step up efforts to look for
more resources," said Xu.
The country last year yielded 2.19 billion tons
of coal, with an annual increase of 24 per cent in coal production over the past
five years, Xu said in a report.
Huang Teng, a senior coal analyst who
previously worked at the country's second-largest coal producer China Coal, said
that it would not be difficult to find coal resources of that scale in
China.
"We could find more coal in the western regions such as Xinjiang,
Shaanxi, Gangsu, Qinghai and even Tibet," said Huang.
Huang suggested the
country establish an industry fund to help companies find more coal resources in
the country.
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