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The Peking Syndicate mine at Fuchung, producing 670,000 tons of anthracite and the associated Chungyuan mine which has an output of 949,000 (1924) tons; the mines at Chinghsing, Linchang, and Linhokow, producing bituminous coal, output about 1,300,000 tons (1923); the Paoching and Pingting mines, at Pingting, producing 1,330,000 tons (1923) of an anthracite; outputs in each case are for best year.
156. All collieries in China, except Fushun and Kailan, have been affected by the civil wars, but most seriously of all the group on the Peiping (Peking)-Hankow railway, most of the rolling stock from which has been taken by the militarists. This group used to supply the market all along the railway in both directions, reaching as far as Tientsin, as well as some of the Hankow ironworks, but is at present practically closed down. The whole output of the district at its best was well over 5,000,000 tons a year.
157. The only large mine in the whole of South China is Pinghsiang, south of Hankow, on the northern section of what will be the Canton-Hankow railway. Its output was consumed entirely in the Hankow district, mainly by the Hanyang and neighbouring ironworks. These, the only big ironworks in China, apart from Manchuria, have had an output up to 500,000 tons of pig iron a year altogether, but this has been rapidly declining, and with it the output of Pinghsiang coal, which fell from 800,000 tons in 1922 to 200,000 tons in 1926. The coal is considered the best metallurgical coking coal in the Orient, but rather soft for other uses.
The iron ore no longer smelted locally goes mainly to Japan, though some is now smelted in Shanghai.
The provinces on the south east coast are without their own coal supplies, and obtain coal mainly from Japan and Indo-China. Prices are increasing as the Japanese home market increases and export decreases. There is a considerable import of Kailan coal into Hongkong.
FUTURE DEVELOPMENT.
158. Before any big developments can be contemplated, the industry has still a long way to go in recovering the position it held in 1924. The mines in Shantung are already well on the way to recovery, but those of Shansi must await the rehabilita- tion of the Peiping (Peking)-Hankow railway, which has only recovered a fraction of its rolling stock up to now. However, given continued peace, recovery should be rapid.
There are railway extensions projected for the interior of Shansi, which would bring with them coal developments, but this is not for the immediate future.
In addition to regaining their former market, the mines of the Shansi border may supply coal to the iron works of Lungyen, near Peiping (Peking) should these be brought into operation. The posi- tion of Pinghsiang is rather different. The decline of this mine,
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along with the Hankow iron industry, cannot be attributed entirely to political causes, as it was well started before 1924. It is doubt- ful whether this industry will revive here, or whether a more favourable site may be formed for smelting the Yangtse ores with some other coal. A new market may open for Pinghsiang with the completion of the Canton-Hankow railway, which will also The open the great neighbouring Hunan field to the south. S.E. Provinces will certainly tend to draw increasing supplies from Chinese sources, but whether it will be cheaper to send by rail from these fields, 300 miles distant, or by sea from North China, is not certain. If the former, not only the recovery of Pinghsiang, but also a big development in the Hunan coalfield, which has large reserves of good anthracite and bituminous coal, may be expected.
159. The mines of Kailan, Poshan, and Ihsien, and other exist- ing mines in North China near the coast, all of which have reserves for many centuries at the present output, are likely to take the greatest share in any development there may be in the trade of the North China coast and the lower Yangtse. The development of the Hwai Nan mine, in Anhwei, near Pengpu on the Tientsin- Pukow line, is in the programme of the National Construction Commission and appears to have fair prospects in the near future, the reserve of the district being at least 500 million tons, much of it of quite good quality. The same Commission also administers the Chang Hsin mines in Chekiang, but these are smaller, and the quality lower. The iron works at Poshan and Ihsien cannot expand as long as local ore supplies only are used. The coals may, however, be used for smelting Yangtse ores, either at the mine, or more probably at some convenient sea or Yangtse port such as Tsingtao, Shanghai, or Nanking.
The Chinese mines in S.W. Manchuria, particularly Peipiao, now producing 300,000 tons a year, may develop considerably. At present they are hampered by the lack of an ice-free port, and by the price-cutting policy of Fushun in the local market. But Fushun itself has almost reached the limit of its possible output, and also the new port of Hulutao, to be completed in about 5 years, is only some 30 miles distant from Peipiao, which should therefore easily secure any trade there may be from this port.
160. The Lungyen Mining Administration began the erection, just after the war, of an iron-works near Peiping (Peking). The works have the necessary plant to produce 250 tons of pig iron per day, as well as coal and iron ore mines, but have never yet been in operation. They are controlled by the Ministry of Railways. The ore is to be obtained from near Hsuan-Hua, and is of fair quality. The coal was to have been obtained from Liu Hoku and other collieries in the east of the Shansi field, 200-250 miles distant along the Peiping (Peking)-Hankow Railway. It has lately
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