It wants to do upgrades at 18 mines next year for 20.1 million tons of additional capacity a year.

"We have regular meetings on consolidation work and discuss issues like compensation, takeovers, and technical alteration," said the company's general manager, Zhang Youxi.

The company has had to accommodate the interests of partners, local governments and local people in the consolidation process.

And, cultural integration is one tool that has been successful in taking over small mines. Each mine it acquires is given the same badges, flags, and uniforms of the parent group. They also have to familiarize themselves with the management concepts.

Since last year, the company has trained 170 production safety managers and 1,500 technicians, then sent them to the newly acquired properties to apply standard operating procedures.

The group also accelerated construction work on new collieries. Three mines, each with an annual capacity of 10 million tons, will be operational by the end of this year.

Last year, the company sold a total of 113 million tons of coal and had revenues of 42.5 billion yuan.

Its production and sales volume in the first nine months of this year already surpassed that of last year, reaching 115 million tons.