North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region vows to become the country's largest coal producer by producing 500 million tons of coal by 2010, according to sources of local government.

The regional government of Inner Mongolia released a "guidance opinion over structure readjustment of the coal industry," which raised the target of upgrading the structure of coal sector and turning the region's rich coal resources into economic superiority.

According to the document, Inner Mongolia will shut down or merge the region's small coal mines within three years, and strive to build a group of coal production centers with annual coal outputs exceeding 100 million tons.

Priority will be given to the development of large coal groups with annual outputs topping 10 million tons and coal mines with annual outputs exceeding 1.2 million tons.

By the end of 2007, the number of region's local coal mines will be reduced from 1,100 to 700, and an industrial base of large-sized coal enterprises will emerge in the region.

Source: Xinhua