Evaluation of Anthracite Resources Geographical Distribution and Transport Conditions in China

By CnAgri2012-07-31 11:15:36 Print

China’s anthracite predicted reserve is 474 billion tons, proved reserve is 100 billion tons, of which Shanxi Province accounts for 43%, Henan Province, 8%, and Guizhou Province 11%. Because of the huge consumption of urea enterprises, anthracite mines with smaller reserves will be depleted in 5-10 years; although the reserves in Ningxia and Guizhou are large, the anthracite quality is poor, and the transport distance is long; urea-purposed anthracite consumed in China in the future will mainly rely on coal mines in Henan and Shanxi provinces, in particular, Jincheng Anthracite Mining Group from Shanxi province will supply more than half of anthracite.

Anthracite resources distribution is concentrated, but the majority of urea-producing provinces are seriously lacking anthracite, which causes great pressure on railway transportation. Especially after 2007, transport of anthracite from Shanxi coal base to urea enterprises in Anhui, Jiangsu and other regions in South China, the transport costs rise rapidly, and the transportation capacity was very low.

Tension in anthracite resource supply will lead to the increase of the proportion of lignite, bituminous coal and other coal types in raw materials for urea production.