2,500 mines to close before 2010
By Wu Jiao | China Daily | Updated: 2008-10-18 08:34
About 2,500 coal mines will be shut down and 1,600 restructured within the next two years. They each have an annual production capacity of less than 300,000 tons.
In a notice posted on the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety's website on Friday, its director, Zhao Tiechui, said the number of such mines will be reduced to 10,000 from the present 14,000 by 2010.
The number of mines to be closed in each coal-rich provinces has been circulated to local governments, he said.
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