North China's Shanxi province has undertaken coalbed methane extraction tests in goaves and the effective development and utilization of coalbed methane resources, as important tasks amid the energy revolution of recent years.

The area of coal goaves in abandoned mines in Shanxi is estimated at over 2,000 square kilometers, while residual coalbed methane resources are calculated to be over 72 billion cubic meters. 

At the end of last year, Shanxi Department of Natural Resources started to reuse remaining resources from closed coal mines in three coalbed methane extraction tests.

To date, more than 100 extraction wells have been constructed in the abandoned mines and 128 million cu m of coalbed methane has been extracted and utilized, which is the equivalent of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 1.92 million metric tons.

According to an official at Shanxi Department of Natural Resources, the province will continue to develop and implement policies, collate data, explore and improve relevant systems, and move forward in its bid to offer a useful method of coal-bed methane extraction in coal goaves to other regions in China.