On August 29, Shanxi Evening News (Shanhe+) published the feature 'Huayang Group: Anthracite Transformed into a Sodium New Power'. Yangquan is one of China's largest anthracite production bases; Huayang Group (Yangquan Huayang New Material Technology Group, a key Shanxi coal enterprise and former largest domestic anthracite supplier) is converting anthracite into hard carbon anode material for sodium-ion batteries: through precisely controlled carbonization and activation processes, the high-fixed-carbon, low-ash anthracite is made into hard carbon anodes with high specific capacity and excellent cycling performance, achieving a leap from 'selling coal' to 'selling materials'.
The report discloses the group's full-chain sodium strategy across 'raw materials - materials - cells - applications': developing coal-based hard carbon anodes at the raw-material end; laying out cathode/anode, electrolyte and separator at the materials end (with a 10,000-tonne-level cathode/anode material project as the core hub); building a high-standard cell manufacturing base (focusing on large-capacity, high-safety utility storage and power cells); and expanding applications including backup power, electric heavy trucks, residential storage and large-scale independent shared storage stations.
On applications, the report discloses that during a recent 2026 mine dual-circuit blackout emergency drill at its No. 2 Mine, the 'Huayang-made' sodium mine backup power system operated under real load, and the group's mines have basically achieved full coverage of sodium emergency power. A duty officer at the group's Beiru 35kV substation directed the activation of main ventilator and hoist emergency power via dispatch phone during the drill, marking scaled, validated deployment of Huayang sodium technology from materials to systems in mine safety scenarios.
'basically full coverage of sodium emergency power in all mines' is company-disclosed; deployed capacity and unit counts are not disclosed; the 10,000-tonne material project and cell base are planning/construction-caliber, with commissioning and utilization rates to be verified; the feature combines enterprise publicity with provincial media, and some expressions are company-caliber.