Construction began on the biggest coal mine in northwest China's
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on
Sunday.
With a total investment of about 2.6 billion yuan (US$336
million), construction of the mine will take 42 months to
complete.
It is expected to have annual revenue of 1.45 billion yuan
(US$188 million).
Located in Ili in western Xinjiang, the mine will be the first
in Xinjiang to have an annual output capacity of 10 million
tons.
The colliery is being built and financed by Xinwen Mining Group
Corporation, China's eighth largest coal mining group based in east
Shandong Province.
Xinjiang is estimated to have coal reserves of 2.19 trillion
tons, or 40 percent of the country's total. The region's coal
production stood at 43 million tons in 2006.
Before the end of the decade two or three mining bases each with
an annual output of 50 million tons along with a number of
10-million-ton mines are expected to be built in Xinjiang.
Xinwen Mining Group also revealed plans to invest in facilities
that will be able to process 30 million tons of coal a year for the
production of methanol and olefin in Ili, where the estimated coal
reserve is about 301 billion tons.
(Xinhua News Agency April 30, 2007)