The country's top work safety official has admitted it will be
tough to reduce the number of small coal mines to the targeted
10,000 by 2010.
Li Yizhong, minister of the State Administration of Work Safety,
said the goal is becoming more unattainable as some areas are
setting up new mines despite the central government's policy to
close most of them.
The establishment of small mines - defined as having an annual
production capacity of less than 300,000 tons - is no longer
allowed. But of the nearly 4,000 mines currently being built or
expanded, four in five have an annual output of less than 300,000
tons, he said.
There are an estimated 24,000 small mines in the country.
Li criticized some local governments for not implementing the
policy on closure of such mines, which has resulted in an increase
of major accidents since the beginning of the year.
According to the administration, the number of mining accidents
this year which claimed the lives of between 10 and 29 people
increased by 7.7 percent compared to the same period last year.
Small mines account for one-third of the national coal
production but two-thirds of all deaths from accidents. In 2006,
accidents in small mines killed 3,431 people; the total was
4,700.
Li also said that in some areas, mines had been "closed" by
simply plugging the well mouths, without dismantling underground
production and transport facilities.
These mines are just in a suspended state and can resume
production easily, Li told a national conference in Ordos in north
China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
(China Daily June 7, 2007)