CHINA Shenhua Group, the country's largest coal producer, has launched a project to find combustible ice, a kind of natural gas hydrate, in northwest China's Qinghai Province.

Shenhua has signed an agreement with the Qinghai provincial government to begin exploration for combustible ice.

The substance is usually found in seabed or tundra areas, each of which has the high pressure and low temperature necessary for its stability. It can be ignited like solid ethanol, which is why it has the name combustible ice.