THE STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT OF SURFACE COAL MINING IN CHINA

There are a series of advantages for surface mining over underground mining. Intensively developing surface coal mining has been a tendency worldwide. Based on the analysis of the current status, the opinion on future strategic development of surface coal mining in China is put forward. The centroid of surface coal mining will be westward; new large coal mining areas will dominate the overall open cut coal productin; surface mining intensity will be enlarged with coal productive centralization to a high degree. The factors which influence the strategic development, such as coal resources, mining technology and equipment, power plant allocation, construction investment etc. are analyzed, some policies and measures for strategic development are recommended.