MOSCOW, September 30 (RIA Novosti) - Northern China's Shanxi Province, with one-third of the country's coal reserves, has decided to shut around half of its coal mines over safety violations, the Xinhua news agency said Tuesday.
The decision taken by the provincial government follows recent press reports about a spate of deaths of miners caused by insufficient safety precautions at local mines, which produce around 940 million metric tons of coal annually.
The agency said the 2,840 active mines in China's leading coal producing region would be reduced to 1,414. It also said that many of the deaths occurred at illegal mines, which are numerous in the province.
The local authorities also intend to consolidate the remaining mines into several holding companies.
