Exploring China’s coal resources

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The Instrumentation Network explains the status of China’s coal resources: the basic situation of China’s coal resources, and the distribution of coking coal resources in China. Instrument Network Answer: (1) Basic information on China’s coal resources. China’s proven coal reserves rank third in the world, after the United States and Russia. China’s coal resources are mainly distributed in North China and Northwest China, accounting for about 50% and 30% of the country’s total respectively. The combined total of the other four major regions accounts for only 20% of the country’s total. Of China’s resources with confirmed reserves of over 1 trillion tons, thermal coal and coking coal account for 72% and 26% respectively, with 2% falling into categories that have not been identified. Among coking coals, bituminous coal (including 1/3 coking coal) has the largest amount of “confirmed resource reserves,” accounting for 12% of the total resources; coking coal makes up 6%; lean coal, semi-lean coal, rich coal, and gas-rich coal each account for 4% and 3% respectively. In terms of thermal coal resources, subbituminous coal, long-flame coal, and lignite are the most abundant, accounting for 16%, 15%, and 13% of the country’s total resources respectively; anthracite also accounts for 11%. The coal with the smallest resource volume is poor coal, which constitutes only 6% of the total national resources. Among coking coals, bituminous coal and 1/3 coking coal together account for 46% of the confirmed resource reserves, while rich coal and gas-rich coal account for the lowest proportion, at just 13%. Coking coal and “lean coal, poor lean coal” rank second and third respectively. Among coal types not used for coking, bituminous-free coal and long-flame coal account for the largest share of the \"confirmed resource reserves\" among thermal coals, both exceeding 20%; lignite and anthracite make up just over 18% and 15% respectively, while weakly bituminous coal has the smallest share, at just over 2%. There is also less than 0.2% natural coke. In addition, unclassified thermal coal accounts for over 13%. Explanation by Instrument Network (2): Distribution of coking coal resources in China. Shanxi Province has the largest reserves of coking coal in China, with an estimated resource volume of over 100 billion tons, accounting for more than 56% of the country’s total coking coal resources. Anhui Province and Shandong Province rank second and third in terms of estimated resource volumes, with around 20 billion tons each. The “identified resources” of coking coal in the remaining provinces are all less than 10 billion tons. Among them, Guizhou, Heilongjiang, Hebei, and Henan Province ranked fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh nationwide in terms of \"identifying the most resources\". The \"confirmed resource volume\" of coking coal in other provinces (municipalities, districts) is below 5.5 billion tons in all cases, with Xinjiang being the exception at nearly 8 billion tons. Source—Instrument Network