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More small coal mines to be closed in China: Work safety official

A senior work safety official said that though the rate of coal mine accidents in China has declined over the past decade, more coal mines will be shuttered.

Mr Yang Dongliang, minister of the State Administration of Work Safety, said that the number of work safety accidents declined from 800,000 in 2004 to 300,000 in 2013, as has the number of deaths, from 136,700 to 69,000 over the same period.

The death rate per 1 million metric tonne of coal has also dropped, from 3.08 to 0.288, a decline of 90%.

Mr Yang said that coal production in 2013 reached 3.7 billion tonne and that the supply of coal in China still exceeds demand, which has brought coal prices down and raised costs for coal enterprises.

He said that "Some coal enterprises are suffering losses, especially small coal mines that have greater safety hazards. We are strengthening our effort to close down these small coal mines."

He added that roughly 2,000 small coal mines will be closed this year and in 2015. Currently, there are about 13,000 coal mines in China.

Mr Fu Jianhua head of the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety said that the administration has been making every effort to ensure the safety of workers in coal mine production.

Mr Fu said that they are focusing on 50 counties from 772 coal-producing counties in the nation to strengthen their work safety efforts. These 50 counties will be under greater pressure to ensure coal production safety.

He said that the heads of the 50 counties were asked to join a workshop about production safety, and a notification will be issued each week to report work safety problems in these 50 counties.

He added that the number of coal mine accidents in the 50 counties has dropped by more than 50% in the first four months of this year compared with the same period last year.

Source: www.chinadaily.com