CHARACTERISTICS OF MARKET
The government will strengthen the planning and management of coal resources and increase efforts in exploring these. Coal areas under state planning or those vital to the national economy will be strictly developed according to the plan set by the government. In order to curb the current phenomenon of indiscriminate coal mining and the washing of resources, the government will perfect the system of granting mineral properties with compensation, strictly apply the procedures for approval of mineral properties and ban illegal mining. The government will also improve the tax collection related to coal resources for conservation and rational utilisation of resources.
Surveying and extracting special-types of rare coal (e.g. coking coal and lean coal) are generally restricted to foreign investors through JVs only, with no more than 49% foreign ownership.
In exploration and mining the Mineral Resources Law provides a licensing system under which a coal explorer must obtain an exploration permit. A mining permit and associated resources tax and compensation fee are required for coal mining activities. Both exploration permits and mining permits are transferable to foreign investors and are legally permitted to be injected as capital contribution in Sino-foreign JVs, subject to mandatory appraisals and other statutory conditions.
