From China.org.cn:
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.[Full Text]
