4.19.2.1 Production

In China, most of the limestone deposits are mined in open pits and underground mining is operated only in some small mines in Fujian Province. The opencut mining is mostly carried out on hillsides. The Tiemen limestone mine of the Luoyang Cement Plant was extended from hillsides to depressions and the mine operates effectively. The limestone products include raw materials of cement and various limestones for metallurgical, chemical and sugar industries as well as other industrial usages.

There are currently 1840 and more limestone mines in China, over 100 of which are State-owned enterprises. The average annual production capacity is about 2 billion tons.      

According to the yearbook published by the State Statistical Bureau of China, the output of cement limestone was 442 million tons in 1997 (converted based on the output of cement clinker).

4.19.2.2Distribution of Production     

The limestone enterprises are shown in Fig. 4.19.2 and Table 4.19.1.