Amid overcapacity cuts, Shanxi upgrades coal tech, eyes normal prices

Shanxi province, which has coal reserves accounting for a quarter of China's total, aims to update its coal mines while continuing to reduce capacity in 2017.

"Capacity reduction involves two parts: getting rid of outdated capacity and adding high-performance capacity," said Liang Jinghua, director of the research department of the general office of the provincial government.

The current way of coal exploitation is highly wasteful. Statistics show that for every metric ton of coal, eight tons of minerals, such as bauxite, pyrite, kaoline and fire clay, are used.