4.16.2.1 Present state of Production

Mining of China's asbestos deposits includes open-cup mining and underground mining. The deposits that use open-cut mining methods the Mangnai asbestos mine in Qinghai, Xinkang asbestos mine in Sichuan and others; the deposits worked by underground methods are the Songjian mining area of the Shimian mine, Sichuan, and the Laiyuan asbestos mine, Hebei. Benefication include multistage crushing-fiber opening and multistage seperating operations; separating methods include sieving-aspiration, pneumatic concentration, frictional separation and friction-jigging separation. The asbestos enterprises chiefly produce commodity asbestos and asbestos products. Asbestos benefication products are hand-picked asbestos and mechanically cleaned asbestos. The asbestos products include the asbestos friction material product, asbestos sealing product, asbestos heat-insulation product and special asbestos product.

China now has more than 160 asbestos mines and asbestos-manufactured products enterprises, most of which are small ones. The mine enterprises that can produce 30,000 tons of asbestos per year include: Mangnai asbestos mine, Qinghai, Bazhou asbestos mine, Xinjiang, and Ruoqiang asbestos mine, Xinjiang. The mine enterprises that can produce 10,000 to 20,000 tons of asbestos per year are: Shimian asbestos mine and Xinkang asbestos mine, Sichuan, Qilian asbestos mine, Qinghai, Aksay asbestos mine, Gansu, and Chaoyang asbestos mine, Liaoning. Asbestos-manufactured products enterprises that produce more than 1,000 tons of asbestos products per year include: Beijing Brake & Sealing Material Factory, Shanghai Asbestos Products Factory, Chongqing Asbestos Products Factory, Jiangsu Nanjing Friction Material General Factory, Zhejiang Hangcheng Friction Material Co. Ltd., Shaanxi Xi'an Asbestos Products General Factory, Gansu Friction & Sealing Material Factory, Liaoning Shenyang Friction & Sealing Material General Factory, Hubei Friction & Sealing Material General Factory, Jilin Changchun Friction & Sealing Material General Factory, Shandong Qingdao Asbestos Products General Factory, Yantai Asbestos Products General Factory and Liangshan Asbestos Products Factory. At present the asbestos production capacities of China's asbestos mines and asbestos-manufactured products enterprises are about 500,000 tons and 400,000 tons respectively.

Table 4.16.1 China's asbestos production from 1994 to 1997(t)

In recent years, the world's asbestos production has been decreasing year after year because the western countries have taken severe measures to restrict the production and use of asbestos. In 1997 China's total asbestos production was 437,000 tons, ranking third in the world. Gansu, Xinjiang and Qinghai are the first three most important producers of asbestos in China, and their total asbestos production accounts for 56.45% of China's total. The asbestos productions of various provinces (regions) of China from 1994 to 1997 are shown in Table 4.16.1; the productions of asbestos products of various provinces (regions) of China from 1994 to 1997 are shown in Table 4.16.2; the production of various kinds of asbestos products are shown in Table 4.16.3.

Table 4.16.2 Output of China's asbestos products from 1994 to 1997(t)

Table 4.16.3 Outputs of China's various kinds of asbestos products from 1990 to 1997(t)

4.16.2.2 Distribution of Production

The distribution of China's major asbestos producing mines and processing enterprises are shown in Fig. 4.16.2 and Table 4.16.4. Fig. 4.16.2 shows that China's asbestos mines and enterprises are of wide distribution, but in recent years most mines in eastern China have entered the late stage after a few decades of mining and their production capacities have been declined year after year. Asbestos mines in western China have been developing rapidly and now become the main base of asbestos production in China. China's asbestos production is chiefly concentrated in Xinjiang, Qinghai, Gansu and Sichuan. These provinces (regions) contribute about 2/3 of China's total asbestos production.

Table 4.16.4 The China's major asbestos producing mines and manufactured products enterprises

Table 4.16.5 Production of China's major asbestos products enterprises in 1996 (t)

China's asbestos products enterprises are widespread. Except Hainan and Tibet, all other provinces, municipalities and regions have such enterprises, but large and medium-sized asbestos products enterprises are mainly concentrated in Hebei, Henan, Jiangsu, Shandong and Zhejiang. In 1997 the output of asbestos products of the five provinces accounts for about 72% of the total output of China's asbestos products. The production of China's major asbestos products enterprises in 1996 is given in Table 4.16.5.