Chinese State Administration of Coal Mine Safety Supervision said that Chinese government is unlikely to shut coal mines extensively after an explosion at a shaft in northern China’s Shanxi province killed 74 workers.

Mr Huang Yi spokesman of the work safety bureau said Authorities will intensify checks of mines. The number of fatalities at Chinese mines, the world’s most dangerous, fell 15% last year from 2007. Mining accidents in China killed 3,770 people in 2007.

The Shanxi Youth Daily reported that Mr Hu Jintao President of China and Mr Wen Jiabao Premier called for an all-out rescue effort yesterday after the explosion early that morning rocked the Tunlan Coal Mine in Shanxi’s Gujiao City as 436 miners were working underground, Xinhua said. Shanxi, the nation’s biggest coal producing province, had 16 relatively big mining accidents last year, exceeding government targets.

Mr Hao Xiangbin an analyst from the China Coal Transport and Distribution Association said “Coalmine accidents won’t be solved over the short term. He said that it will be a major threat to the mining industry and adds uncertainty to the market.”

Mr Huang the coal safety administration’s said closure of the Tunlan mine, able to produce 5 million tonnes of coking coal a year, will affect the output of Shanxi Coking Coal Group Co. Mr Liu Jianzhong deputy general manager of Shanxi Coking, didn’t pick up calls made to his office.

According to a statement filed today to Shenzhen’s stock exchange, Shanxi Xishan Coal and Electricity Power Co a listed unit of Shanxi Coking Coal Group said that the explosion wouldn’t affect its operations.

Xinhua citing a source from the work safety bureau said three officials with the Tunlan mine were removed from their posts in the wake of the fatal explosion. Five miners injured in the blast are in a critical condition. A total of 114 miners are currently hospitalized.

(Sourced from Bloomberg)


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