TAIYUAN - North China's coal-rich Shanxi province will further cut its outdated coal production capacity by around 23 million metric tons this year, in an effort to improve the environment.

According to the provincial coal industry authorities, Shanxi will close 36 coal mines in 2018.

Over the past two years, Shanxi has reduced 45.9 million tons of outdated coal production capacity and closed 52 mines.

Besides reducing outdated production capacity, the province has also been improving its coal industrial structure by increasing the proportion of advanced coal production, which includes safer facilities and clean coal production.

It plans to increase its advanced coal production capacity to 530 million tons by the end of this year, accounting for over 50 percent of the total coal production capacity.

Statistics show that Shanxi produced 875 million tons of coal in 2017, up by 43.32 million tons year-on-year. The province's coal industry made 32 billion yuan ($5 billion) in profit, 30.3 billion more than the previous year.