Chosen Anthracite Company Chosen Anthracite Company The Chosen Anthracite Company, Ltd. (Japanese: 朝鮮無煙炭株式会社 "Chōsen Muentan Kabushiki Kaisha"; Korean: 조선무연탄주식회사 "Joseon Muyeontan Jusikhoesa") was a kabushiki kaisha in colonial Korea that operated collieries around Korea. It was founded in 1927 by the Mitsubishi "zaibatsu" of Japan by integrating the anthracite mining operations around Pyongyang, eventually becoming the largest coal-producing company in Korea - 74.9% of the coal distributed in Korea was produced by the Chosen Anthracite Company. In 1935, majority control of the Chosen Anthracite Company went to the Oriental Development Company (Japanese: "Tōyō Takushoku Kabushiki Kaisha"), which transformed the Chosen Anthracite Company into
Anthracite times been futile, and several such combustion areas exist today. The existence of an underground combustion site can sometimes be identified in the winter where fallen snow is seen to be melted by the warmth conducted from below. Proposals for harnessing this heat as geothermal energy have not been successful. A vein of anthracite that caught fire in Centralia, Pennsylvania in 1962 has been burning ever since, turning the once-thriving borough into a ghost town. Among current producers, Russia, China and Ukraine have the largest estimated recoverable reserves of anthracite. Other countries with substantial reserves include Vietnam and North Korea.