|
Home>News Center>China | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Guangdong closes half of coal mines
GUANGZHOU: In the wake of the Daxing Coal Mine flooding in Xingning, almost half of the coalmines in Guangdong Province were forced to shut down due to safety and environmental concerns, sources with the Guangdong Provincial Bureau of Work Safety said. A total of 112 coal mines out of 253 small and medium-sized coal mines in the province were closed, sources with the bureau said. These coal mines were shut down because they pose a risk of being flooded and experiencing a gas explosion, an official with the bureau, who declined to be named, said yesterday. All coal mines in the southern Chinese province have been also been ordered to stop production for safety checks after the accident, added the sources. The official added that all coal mines will not be allowed to reopen until they meet the necessary safety requirements to operate. Moreover, most of the coal mines in Guangdong, which are scattered in Meizhou, Qingyuan and Shaoguan, were also caught without any production or work safety licences, the official said. For example, only two out of the 111 coal mines in Shaoguan, in the northern part of Guangdong, have the necessary coalmining certificates, bureau sources said. On August 8, waters flooded the Daxing Coal Mine, killing 123 miners. It was found to have been operating without necessary certificates for coal mine production. The move to close coal mines is also seen as an effort to protect the natural resources and the environment, according to the official. "Due to years of rampant production, the coal mines have caused great damage to the natural resources and the environment," the official said.
(China Daily 09/06/2005 page3)
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
