What’s new: A coal mine in northwestern province of Shaanxi with an annual production capacity of 10 million tons has officially received safety approval from the National Mine Safety Administration, according to a post by the authority on Monday.
The Kekegai coal mine will be the region’s 14th “super large” coal mine, which is a term for any mine with a yearly capacity above 3 million tons. The coal mine still needs to get approval from the country’s top economic planner to start operations.
What’s the background: China has set strict restrictions on additional coal mining capacity. In 2016, the central government stipulated all new projects should purchase capacity quotas from other mines in order to be developed.
The owners of the Kekegai coal mine purchased a total of 11 million tons of capacity quotas in 2018 from two coal miners in Inner Mongolia and Liaoning province. The coal mine will be one of the region’s key construction projects in the latest five-year plan to 2025, according to the provincial government website.
Contact reporter Lu Yutong (yutonglu@caixin.com) and editor Marcus Ryder (marcusryder@caixin.com)
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