China to close over 4,800 coal mines

China plans to shut down over 4,800 unsafe small coal mines by the end of next year as part of a major government push to improve the industry's deplorable safety standards, state media said Monday.
Zhao Tiechui, head of the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety, was quoted by Xinhua news agency as saying that 2,652 mines would be closed by the end of this year and an additional 2,209 mines would be shut down in 2007. Despite the government's efforts to crack down on small, unsafe coal mines, there are still 17,000 of them across the country, accounting for one-third of China's coal production but two-thirds of deaths in the industry, Xinhua said.