China eliminated 145.78 million tonnes of outdated coal production capacity last year, in a move to improve safety record and further consolidate the sector, according to an official document jointly issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and National Energy Administration (NEA).<br /> <br /> Most of the mines closed were in southern China’s Guizhou, Sichuan and Chongqing, at 73.57 million, 30.16 million and 16.60 million tonnes, respectively, showed the document released on the MIIT website on December 11.<br /> <br /> Northeastern Heilongjiang province, southwestern China’s Yunnan and Gansu province in northwestern region, which failed to meet their elimination targets, were required to close relevant capacities within a deadline they proposed in new rectification plans to be submitted to the MIIT and the NEA.<br /> <br /> Meanwhile, the country phased out backward capacity of 5.44 GW of electricity, 6.18 million tonnes of pig iron, 8.84 million tonnes of crude steel and 24 million tonnes of coke, the document said.<br /> <br /> <p> The coke capacities eliminated were mainly from the three leading production and consumption provinces of Shanxi, Hebei and Shandong, which combined totaled 13.21 million tonnes or 55.0% of the total. </p> <p style="text-align:center;"> <img src="/upfiles/news/image/20141224/20141224113310_1774.jpg" alt="" /> </p>