Source: Xinhuanet

07-20-2007 13:59

HOHHOT, June 5 (Xinhua) -- China will close 10,000 small coal mines by the end of 2007, ahead of schedule, the country's safety watchdog said here Tuesday.

These small coal mines -- whose annual production is less than 30,000 tons -- account for about 44 percent of thetotal number of small coal mines in the country.

China will continue to push ahead with the closure of these dangerous mines, said Li Yizhong, head of the State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS), at a conference in Ordos, in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

According to the SAWS, small coal mines account for one third of total production but two thirds of the deaths from coal mine accidents.

In 2006,accidents in small coal mines took 3,431 lives.

"Illegal and small coal mines with poor production conditions are very risky. We must close them in the interests of miners' livesandsafety," Li said.

He urged localities to report which small coal mines are to be closed, so that their names can be publicized in major newspapers. He asked government at all levelsto put the task high on the agenda.

Encouraged in the 1980s, small coal mines mushroomed across the country and hit a record of over 80,000.

However, since then coal mines have become the main source of coal mine accidents, giving China's mining industry a fearful reputation. In 2005 the SAWS decided to close 23,000 small coal mines by the first half of 2008.

According to the SAWS, 8,671 small coal mines have already been closed and it is on schedule to meet the overall target by June 2008.

The total number of small coal mines should be reduced to about10,000 by 2010, according to the planput together by the National Development and Reform Commission.

China no longer approves coal mines with an annual production capacity of less than 30,000 tons.

 

Editor:Chen Ge