China Shenhua to make alumina from coal ash

BEIJING, Dec 18 (Reuters): China Shenhua Group, the country's largest coal producer, has started building a $21.4 billion facility to produce alumina from coal ash, the state Xinhua news agency said on Sunday, citing a senior company executive. The company plans to invest 135.8 billion yuan ($21.4 billion) in the project, near Jungar coal mine in Ordos city in northern China's Inner Mongolia, Xinhua quoted Ling Wen, deputy manager of Shenhua Group, as saying. No details were given about how the company would turn coal ash, a waste byproduct of thermal power generation, into alumina.