Government and Policy

China sets coal mine gas control as priority

By Ma Chenguang (China Daily Anhui Bureau)
Updated: 2010-05-28 17:18
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HEFEI – China is hosting a world seminar here on May 28-31, in a bid to publicize its technical achievements surrounding "coal mine gas control and utilization" and effectively curb major gas accidents through enhanced cooperation with others.

Liu Hongchuan, deputy director of National Engineering Research Center for Coal Mine Gas Control, said in a news conference that China's colliery gas control technology is now the best in the world.

The 2010 China International Conference on Coal Mine Gas Control Technology, co-sponsored by Anhui Provincial People's Government, National Energy Bureau, State Administration of Coal Mine Safety and China National Coal Association, is attracting some 350 participants from around the globe.

Zhang Haige, director of the Coal Office under the Anhui Provincial Economic and Information Technology Commission, said curbing and preventing colliery gas accidents is a global problem, and the seminar aims to take colliery gas control work onto a broader stage.

Although China's safe production situation in coal mines has been getting better in recent years, with the mortality rate per million tons declining every year, he said, gas hazard is still threatening safe output in collieries around the country.

In Anhui alone, 135 gas accidents occurred between 1990 and 2003, killing 688 people and resulting in a mortality rate per million tons of 1.076.

Two gas accidents in Huainan Mining Group in 1997 killed 88 and 45 miners, respectively, while a major gas blast in Luling Colliery in Huaibei Mining Group resulted in 86 deaths.

"These severe gas blasts woke the government up and made us realize that there will be no peace to coal mines if gas is untamed," Zhang said, confirming that 90 percent of Anhui's coal production is from coal mines where gas is dominant.

Since 2005, Anhui has invested 6.62 billion yuan ($970 million) into technical upgrades at coal mines, while the collieries set gas control as a core task to crack with more technical research, he noted.

Zhang said 98 percent of Anhui's coal production is from the cities of Huainan and Huaibei.

Currently, gas control technology in Huainan is the best in the country, and the State decided to set up the National Engineering Research Center for Coal Mine Gas Control in the city in 2005 as it is bringing a large group of innovation technology each year, said Xue Junhua, deputy director of the center's comprehensive office.

Zhang stressed that so far, among the 188 collieries in Anhui, all of the 50 State-owned coal mines have reached safe production standards.

"If colliery gas control problem is treated well in Huainan, it will play a leading role in the country," said Zhang Xuxiang, deputy director of the Coal Office.