Shenhua Shendong Coal Group Corp produced 202 Mt of saleable coal in 2011, becoming the first 200-Mt commercial coal production base in China. The company says it set several new records in coal output and sales in 2011. Raw coal output reached 219 Mt in 2011, up nearly 11.2 Mt from the previous year. Meanwhile, its commercial coal output at 202 Mt was up nearly 9.3 Mt from the previous year. The company’s Shendong coalfield covers a total area of 31,200 km2 km, and is partly located in northern Yulin in Shaanxi province and partly in southern Ordos in Inner Mongolia. International Mining reported on the company in 2010.
The coalfield has 223,600 Mt of Proven coal reserves, the largest in China. At present, there are seven 10-Mt coal mines and three 20-Mt coal mines in the coalfield.
Also last year, in October, the Zhunneng Heidaigou opencast coal mine, which is the largest opencast coal mine in China with a design annual output of 20 Mt/y, achieved safe production of 2,000 days with “zero death and type-B & non-casualty incidents,” the company reported. During this period, the mine produced a raw coal output of 139 Mt and a total exploitation volume of 601 million m3, “setting two new records in the annual exploitation volume and raw coal output efficiency in opencast coal mines of China.