China's ailing coal industry is looking to foreigners to give it a shot in the arm after the State Council decision earlier this year to allow overseas investors to hold controlling stakes in mining operations.
The industry needs 180 billion yuan (about HK$167.2 billion) for investment from now to 2000.
The director of the general office of the Ministry of Coal Industry, Wang Changchun, said the State Council decided to lift the restriction on the percentage of interest held by foreigners in coal mines in March.
This is part of the move to attract more capital to the industry. In all, 30 per cent of its state-owned enterprises are in the red.
'In the past, efficient coal mines in the country were not to be opened to foreigners,' Mr Wang said.
'Now they, including the Yanzhou one in Shandong, will be opened to foreigners.' The Yanzhou coal mine achieves profit of 500 million yuan a year.
The efficiency of the industry was improving with the introduction of more advanced technology, he said.