A committee for safe production under the State Council, or the Chinese central government, on Sunday urged the relevant local governments to go all out to streamline the operation of mines and close unqualified ones.

More than 12,000 Chinese mines have been ordered to suspend production, and they will be closed if they fail to pass government assessments at the end of this year, the committee said.

A gas explosion occurred on Nov. 11 at a mine run by the Bayinsai Coal Tar Co. Ltd. in Wuhai, a city in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, killing 16 miners and wounding three others. The mine lacked a required safety license.

The committee said in a statement that other mines should draw serious lessons from the deadly accident and "steadfastly prevent illegal production and curb the occurrence of big mining accidents."

(Xinhua News Agency November 21, 2005)