China coal mines safer, but will need 10 more years for fundamental changes, official says

China coal mines safer, but more changes needed

BEIJING — China’s coal mining industry, the world’s deadliest, has improved dramatically but will need another decade to make more fundamental changes, the country’s mine safety director said Saturday.

Accidents last year killed 2,631 coal miners, much lower than the peak of 6,995 deaths in 2002, said Zhao Tiechui, head of the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

That works out to 7.2 deaths a day in 2009, down from 19.1 a day in 2002.

But Zhao said China’s coal mines are still accident-prone and face a difficult task of improving further. He added it would take another 10 years to “fundamentally improve.”

“Awareness of safety and rule of law is still low in some coal-rich areas and some coal enterprises,” Zhao was quoted as saying.

China has closed or absorbed hundreds of smaller, often-illegal private mines into state-owned operations, which are generally safer. Xinhua reported the death rates per 1 million tons of coal produced were eight times higher at smaller mines.

Seventy percent of China’s energy comes from coal. Zhao said output was expected to surpass 3.1 billion tons this year, up from slightly more than 1 billion tons in 2000, according to Xinhua.

Lax safety, a lack of training and equipment, and a rush to feed China’s insatiable demand for coal to fuel its booming economy are behind many of the accidents.

A coal mine blast in northeastern China in November killed 108 miners, in the country’s deadliest mining accident in two years.