China approves massive new coal capacity despite pollution fears
* Beijing approves 15 new large coal mining projects over year
* Total new capacity, including small mines, likely to be higher
* Capacity to increase by 860 mln T over 2011-2015 period
By David Stanway
BEIJING, Jan 8 (Reuters) - China approved the construction of more than 100 million tonnes of new coal production capacity in 2013 - six times more than a year earlier and equal to 10 percent of U.S. annual usage - flying in the face of plans to tackle choking air pollution.
The scale of the increase, which only includes major mines, reflects Beijing's aim to put 860 million tonnes of new coal production capacity into operation over the five years to 2015, more than the entire annual output of India.
ref: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/07/chi...H720140107
