National Development and Reform Commission promulgated new coal industry policies on November 23, 2007.
On principle, the exploitation of a mining area in a large coal base shall be undertaken by one main exploiting body. Each exploiting body may exploit several mining areas.
The policy provides for access conditions on coal exploitation. Certain qualifications are required when establishing or engaging in resource prospecting for coal and coal-bed gas, as well as designing, constructing, inspecting and assessing coal mine construction projects for safety. Also, the relevant provisions in this Policy shall be followed. As restricted in the Policy, no examination and approval will be given to new coal mining projects with an annual capacity of less than 300,000 tonnes during the period of the 11th Five-Year Plan.
The Policy encourages further perfection of the corporate governance structure and the shareholding system reform on the basis of the modern corporate system.
The exploitation and utilization of coal resources shall be preceded by environmental impact assessments according to the law. Under the “three-simultaneous system” the construction of environmental protection facilities of a project shall proceed simultaneously with the main construction. At the same time, the mining area shall also establish an appraisal system and appraisal index for the bearing capacity of the exploitation environment.
The Ministry of State Land Resources will not register mining rights and land use rights of construction projects that fail to meet the development direction. Environmental departments will not examine and approve appraisal documents on the environment and pollutant discharge licences for these projects. No approval will be given by water administration departments for their soil and water conservation plan. Furthermore, their business registration applications will not be accepted by the administration departments of industry and commerce. No loan or any means of credit support will be given by any financial institution to these projects. Applications will be rejected by the competent investment departments.
The State will provide preferential policies to support enterprises in their prospecting, exploitation and comprehensive utilization of resources. At the same time, penalties will be imposed on disqualified enterprises.
