Coal: A key element in industrial development, and the rise of the coal industry began in the aftermath of the Civil War in the United States, the world's most economically prosperous country. After the end of the war, the United States entered a long period of peace and prosperity, and the steel, coal, and metallurgical industries also entered a period of excellence.
In 1900, U.S. coal production reached 24.5 billion tons, surpassing the United Kingdom to become the world's largest coal producer.
Although the importance of oil grew over the next few decades, the U.S. coal industry did not decline as a result. In 1947, U.S. coal production reached its highest level in the first half of the 20th century at 62.4 billion tons.
Despite the fact that in the 50-60s, the competition of oil and gas led to a depression in the coal industry, its production remained between 4-500 million tons. In the 70s, especially after the Middle East oil crisis in 1973, the energy situation in the United States continued to deteriorate, and oil imports increased dramatically, spending more than $50 billion a year on oil imports.
In an effort to reduce dependence on oil, the U.S. coal industry has once again seen a renaissance. From the late '70s to the present, U.S. coal production has experienced ups and downs, with high yields in some years and low yields in others.
For example, over the past 20 years, U.S. coal production has exceeded 1 billion tons in some years and fluctuated around 700 million tons in others.
The United States has the largest coal reserves in the world, 34 states can be mined on a large scale, and there are many open-pit coal mines with low costs. A quarter of the world's coal is in the United States, half of which is anthracite and bituminous coal reserves, and half of subbituminous and lignite.
90% of the coal in the United States is suitable for open-pit mining, and the western part accounts for 75%, the coal field is shallow, gentle and easy to mine, the average depth of the mine is only 90 meters, the gas content is low, and the mining efficiency is 15-3 times.
Before the rise of the coal industry, the Appalachian mining region in the East was the largest coal base in the United States and even in the world. The Appalachian region includes 13 states, mainly in all of West Virginia, eight states including eastern Kentucky and Maryland, with proven reserves of 102.7 billion tons, of which 16 billion tons are high-quality coking coal.
For nearly 100 years, the northeastern region of the United States has relied on coal mining, gradually forming a huge heavy industry base. Sixty percent of the steel industry and steel-based processing industries are concentrated in the triangle between Boston, Chicago and Washington.
The Appalachian coalfields were first discovered by British colonists and mining began in 1750. In the 80s of the 19th century, the rise of the steel industry led to a surge in coal production, reaching 600 million tons per year, but then it fell sharply and still maintains an annual output of about 400 million tons.
The area west of the Mississippi River in the United States is another important base for U.S. coal, with abundant low-sulfur and low-ash thermal coal resources, 76% of which are concentrated in Wyoming, Montana and North Dakota, which are also suitable for open-pit mining.
Since 1970, due to the rapid increase in demand for low-sulfur thermal coal for power generation, many companies have flocked to the western region to develop and produce a sharp increase, capturing one-third of the country's market share.
The Porter River Coalfield, the largest development in the western region, is located in northeast Wyoming and southwest Montana, with ** reserves of 700 billion tons and proven reserves of 120 billion tons, making it one of the largest coalfields in the world.
China and the United States are countries rich in coal resources, but due to the difference in energy consumption structure, there is a huge gap in coal production between the two countries. The highest record for coal production in the United States occurred between 2001 and 2005, with an average annual output of 1 billion tons, and production has gradually declined since then.
Coal production in the U.S. has fallen by 37% over the past decade, compared to 6400 million tons, the lowest since 1978. This record was surpassed by India, making the United States the third largest coal producer in the world.
After China's coal production exceeded the one billion ton mark in 1989, it continued to rank first in the world. Over the past 20 years, China's coal production has risen at a rate that is unique in the history of human development.
In 2000, China's coal production was only 138.4 billion tons, exceeding 2 billion tons in 2004, exceeding 3 billion tons in 2009, and approaching 4 billion tons in 2013.
In 2013, China's coal production began to show a downward trend, but the decline was not significant relative to the overall scale. Taking last year as an example, China's coal output was still as high as 384.6 billion tonnes, accounting for 47% of global production.
Comparison of coal industry between China and the United States: China's coal production is six times that of the United States, but coal mining in the United States is mainly used for power generation and export, and its dependence on coal consumption is lower than that of China.
The burgeoning shale oil and gas boom in the United States has depressed natural gas**, making the economic advantages of natural gas power generation even more apparent. In addition, the policy impact of domestic environmental protection forces has also led to a significant reduction in coal consumption, while the international coal market is oversupplied, and the coal industry is facing severe market difficulties and has to repeatedly reduce production.
Although the United States has the richest coal reserves in the world, it can increase production at any time if it wants to.