Tougher Fists Upon Small Coal Mines

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, April 10, 2002

Tougher Fists Upon Small Coal Mines

China will close another 30 percent of its existing small coal mines this year, reducing the total number to 15,000.

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Small Coal Mines in Shanxi Ordered to Stop Production for Safety Checks

China will close another 30 percent of its existing small coal mines this year, reducing the total number to 15,000, said Zhang Baoming, director of the State Bureau for Supervising Coal Mine Safety.

China will also cut the coal mine death toll and the number of major accidents by 10 percent, Zhang said at a national conference on coal mine safety Tuesday (April 9).

China recorded 556 coal mine accidents with 994 deaths in the first quarter of this year.

The two figures are 57.9 percent and 13 percent up from the same period last year.

A large number of the accidents occurred in township mines, especially in unlicensed small mines, he said.

Tens of thousands of small coal mines that failed to meet basic safety standards have been shut down after months of work by the government to reduce coal mine fatalities, according to the director.

Since May 2001, China has shut down 12,257 small coal mines, including 1,284 State-owned mines, reducing the total number of small mines from 82,000 in 1997 to 23,000.

Another 8,000 small mines will be shut down by the end of the year, he added.

Efforts For Securer Coal Mines: A Long Way Ahead

Last year the administration held six national campaign on 17 major coal mines and 62 cities to improve workplace safety. The government also strengthened penalties on the operation of illegal coal mines, Zhang said.

The work safety committee of the State Council has also investigated eight gas explosion cases in Shaanxi, Jiangsu and Shanxi provinces, and leaders in those provinces found responsible were punished.

In Shanxi Province's Linfen city, which has 63 billion tons of coal deposits, 425 small coal mines were shut down in the past three years, said Cheng Hongcai, the city's vice-mayor.

At the same time, billions of dollars were allocated to improve mine safety through technical innovations and the purchase of safety equipment for major State-owned coal mines.

Statistics indicate that more than 2 billion yuan (US$240 million) was spent on 103 safety improvement projects for hundreds of coal mines.

The closing and overhaul of coal mines have also helped lighten the severe oversupply of coal after the nation downscales its coal production to 1 billion tons per year from 1.37 billions tons in 1997, said Zhang.

The proportion of coal mines run by the State, local governments and towns respectively shifted from 4:2:4 to 6:2:2, he added.

The government's work has significantly improved mine safety, officials said. In the first quarter of this year, no serious accidents involving deaths of 30 or more were reported. There were nine reported serious accidents that killed 10 or more miners, a decline of 40 per cent compared with the same period last year, Zhang said.

The government will surely continue to fight against sub-standard mines and strengthen safety supervision of existing mines, according to the official.

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