China's coal-rich province sees coal production increase in 2022

TAIYUAN, Jan. 20 (Xinhua) -- North China's coal-rich province of Shanxi saw its coal production hit 1.31 billion tonnes in 2022, up 8.7 percent year on year, local authorities said on Friday.

Last year, Shanxi provided 620 million tonnes of thermal coal for another 24 provincial-level regions in China, according to the provincial statistics bureau.

Shanxi accelerated the release of advanced coal production capacity and increased its coal production capacity through new expansion and investment in 2022.

In the next five years, Shanxi will speed up the construction of a green energy supply system, and strive to achieve the ratio of advanced coal production capacity to about 95 percent, and the installed capacity of new and clean energy to 54 percent.

It is estimated that Shanxi has a coal-bearing area of 57,000 square kilometers, accounting for 36.3 percent of the province's total area. As of the end of 2021, the province made up 23 percent of China's total coal reserve, as indicated by data released by the Ministry of Natural Resources.