North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region may replace
its neighbor Shanxi Province as the country's largest coal
reserve, an official has said.
A major geological survey in the region since June 2004 has led
to the discovery of new coalfields which could lift coal reserves
by a massive 319 billion tons, said Bai Dun, director of the Inner
Mongolia Department of Land and Resources.
With the new finds, the region's coal reserves might break the
500 billion ton mark, which means it would outrank Shanxi Province,
the official added.
Inner Mongolia currently ranks second in China in terms of coal
reserves with 220 billion tons, nudged out by Shanxi with 250
billion tons.
The region produced 260 million tons of coal in 2005 and
produced even more last year, though the exact figure is not yet
available, Bai said.
It invested 2.78 billion yuan (US$356 million) last year in
geological exploration, doubling the investment between 2001 and
2005, on 170,000 square kilometers of land.
The 6.4-billion-ton Baiyanhua coalfield and five big
10-billion-ton coalfields in Xilin Gol were discovered last
year.
(Xinhua News Agency January 26, 2007)