Reflection on China’s coal resource guarantee capacity and exploration work under the background of “double carbon”

The structure of China’s coal-based energy consumption will not change in the short term. Coal resources are still being developed at a high intensity and with significant demand in China.It's necessary to pay close attention to China’s coal resource exploration efforts. This study essentially determines the state of coal resources by examining the distribution and preservation of coal resources in China. The distribution of China’s comparatively abundant coal resources is mostly governed by the “two horizontal” and “two vertical” tectonic bands that run east-west and north-south. The distribution of “nine palaces” resources is uneven in terms of their occurrence and development in the various regions. While there is little coal exploration and development in the western region despite its wealth of resources, there is a high level of coal development in the middle and eastern regions. The mining situation of coal resources in typical mines of main coal mining areas in China was investigated and calculated. The calculation method of coal resource recovery rate is studied. The resources mined by the majority of mines only make up 24.3% to 59.8% of the resource reserves found through exploration, which can essentially represent the actual mining situation of the coal resource reserves found in China under the current technical mining conditions. The majority of the coal resource reserves that have been identified in China’s present exploration and appraisal will be mined and occupied in 20 years, according to the research. The inability to reliably identify resource reserves necessitates drawing society’s attention to the exploration of coal resources and enabling proactive planning and formulation of focused solutions. In order to realize the ballast role of coal in ensuring the safe and stable development of China’s energy sector, it is necessary to strengthen the exploration of coal reserves in the old mining areas in the central and eastern regions; accelerate the westward shift of coal development strategy, the construction of coal base “Gemini”; and carry out fine exploration and evaluation of geological conditions in deep and complex areas.