From Bloomberg, via The Financial Express:
China, the world’s largest coal producer, plans to halt production at 8,648 coal mines in 25 provinces by the end of this year, about 1,000 more than estimated in August, to boost competitiveness and safety. The government wants to reduce the number of small mines operating with outdated equipment and increase use of coal gas to cut the risk of accidents during mining, the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s top economic planning agency, said on its website on Tuesday.
”We will order the full closure of those mines which failed to meet safety standards by the end of the year,” the agency said. In August, the government ordered production stopped at more than 7,000 coal mines in 26 provinces because they hadn’t met work safety requirements. Some unsafe mines had been kept open to meet demand from an economy that expanded 9.4% in the third quarter.
