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Japan: A lot of people, very little space.Lets travel around the world to the country of Japan. By taking a closer look at Japan we can see how the demand for coal can depend on a countrys population and the amount of a natural resource, like coal, that it has. Population
and Demand Importing
a natural resource like Coal The Japanese are the largest importers of thermal coal, also called steam coal, in the world. Thermal coal is the type of coal that they use to make power.6 Japan imports 135.4 million tonnes of coal per year.7 So where does Japan get all this coal from? Japan buys most of its thermal coal from the United States, Australia, China and South Africa. This is not the only type of coal that the Japanese need though, they also buy metallurgical coal (coal used in their factories to make steel) from the United States, Australia, Russia and of course Canada. They buy a lot of their coal from mines right here in British Columbia, close to 11.5 million tonnes every year.8 Japan
has coal too Japan has two coal mines that are open today but they only produce between 3 and 4 million tonnes of coal a year. This is not very much when we compare it to 139.5 million tonnes, the total amount of coal that Japan uses every year.11 Japan has the worlds second largest economy and needs millions of tonnes of raw materials like coal to keep their factories producing steel and other products. If the Japanese used only their own coal reserves, the 865 million tonnes wouldnt last for much longer than 6 years. Now lets take a look at why Japan has such a huge steel industry and why it is so important that they buy a lot of coal from countries like Canada. |
Introduction | Tumbler Ridge | The Caufield Brothers | Japan Markets | Coal Mining and the Environment | Mining Technology | From the Mines to the Ports
© MM Fernie & District Historical Society.