Mine deaths down as coal output rises

Fewer accidents recorded last year thanks to efforts to promote safety

China's mining sector had fewer accidents and a lower death toll last year, despite the country's coal production reaching a record high, according to the National Mine Safety Administration.

"The production safety situation in the country's mining sector has been stable with continuous improvement," said Zhang Xin, the administration's deputy head.

A total of 356 accidents happened in mines across the country last year, a year-on-year decrease of 16 percent, he said. The number of people killed fell by 12.7 percent to 503.

He said the decreases happened amid a challenging situation for safe production, which was caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and an increase in coal output.

Coal production in China last year was a record 4.1 billion metric tons, up 5.7 percent year-on-year, as the country strove to address soaring coal prices, he said.

Despite the increase in production, Zhang said the death rate for every 1 million tons of coal produced dropped by 24 percent year-on-year to 0.044.

The administration gave 207 coal mines the green light to temporarily expand production last year, which helped increase coal output by 110 million tons, he said.

To promote their safe operation, the administration offered the mines one-to-one consulting services and also demanded their mother companies dispatch special teams to enhance safety management, Zhang said.

Sun Qingguo, another official with the administration, said 2,098 coal mines across the country had resumed operation since Spring Festival. Their annual capacity is almost 3.9 billion tons.

To enhance safe production, the administration will dispatch officers from other areas for law enforcement and also roll out more inspections without prior notice, he said.

Sun also vowed to promote the application of intelligent facilities in the mining sector to further enhance safe production.

A total of 813 mine tunnel sections across the country have turned to intelligent facilities for production, up by 65 percent from 2020.Among them, 477 are in coal mines, he said, adding that 29 types of robots are being used in more than 370 coal mines.

Thanks to the intelligent facilities, the number of workers that need to work underground in coal mines has decreased by 370,000 since 2016, he said.

With coordination from the administration, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology have launched research programs involving a total investment of 460 million yuan on some key technologies for intelligent coal mining.

Wang Duanwu, director-general of law, regulation, science and technology at the administration, said it has made significant progress in constructing a monitoring and early warning system. All 2,611 coal mines in operation across the country have been incorporated into the system.