China will continue to close small coal mines and cut down their
production in an attempt to ensure work safety and raise the
industry's productivity, said Wang Xianzheng, vice-director of the
State Administration of Work Safety.
Small collieries produce 1.08 billion tons of coal every year,
which accounts for 33 percent of the nation's total. The
administration aims to bring down the output to 700 million tons,
or 27 percent by 2010, said Wang at a meeting to honor "model
workers" in the industry.
Wang also pressed for the development of the 13 large coal mine
bases, which include the 100-million-ton Shendong base, saying that
by 2010, the output of these large bases should reach 2.24 billion
tons to take up 86 percent of the country's total.
Small coal mines, which often triggered accidents and blasts,
account for two thirds of the deaths resulting from coal mine
accidents. In 2006, accidents in small coal mines claimed 3,431
lives.
(Xinhua News Agency September 29, 2007)