China will continue to close small coal mines and cut down their production in an attempt to ensure work safety and raise the industry's productivity, said Wang Xianzheng, vice-director of the State Administration of Work Safety.

Small collieries produce 1.08 billion tons of coal every year, which accounts for 33 percent of the nation's total. The administration aims to bring down the output to 700 million tons, or 27 percent by 2010, said Wang at a meeting to honor "model workers" in the industry.

Wang also pressed for the development of the 13 large coal mine bases, which include the 100-million-ton Shendong base, saying that by 2010, the output of these large bases should reach 2.24 billion tons to take up 86 percent of the country's total.

Small coal mines, which often triggered accidents and blasts, account for two thirds of the deaths resulting from coal mine accidents. In 2006, accidents in small coal mines claimed 3,431 lives.

(Xinhua News Agency September 29, 2007)