China will adopt stricter measures over coal mines this year to improve safety record in the industry, sources reported, citing an official with the State Administration of coal mine Safety. 

Starting from 2014, small coal mines with annual capacity below 300,000 tonnes will not be allowed to construct, and no approvals will be granted to those with designed annual capacity below 900,000 tonnes but prone to accidents (e.g. coal and gas outburst mines), according to Song Yuanming, vice director of the administration.

The government will continue to shut small coal mines with annual capacity of 90,000 tonnes and below resolutely, though large companies are encouraged from the policy aspect to merge and regroup small ones.

"Small coal mines failing to meet safety standards must be shut, and we must not tolerate those under the cover of transformation, merger and regrouping, etc.," said Yang Dongliang, director of State Administration of Safety, "so many accidents had happened in mines under transformation, especially those below 90,000 tonnes."

Data showed that China presently has more than 12,000 coal mines in operation, of which nearly 10,000 belong to small mines with annual capacity below 300,000 tonnes.

According to the 2014 implementation plan of the coal industry’s 12th Five-Year Plan drafted by the National Energy Administration (NEA) for opinions solicitation in late January, China plans to eliminate over 110 million tonnes of outdated coal capacity by phasing out nearly 1,450 coal mines this year.

To realize the target, there will be 700 coal mines with capacity of 39.4 million tonnes closed directly, 223 coal mines with capacity of nearly 12.3 million tonnes eliminated through transformation and upgrading, and 523 coal mines with capacity of over 58.9 million tonnes removed through mergers and regrouping, the NEA said in the plan.

Once again, Southwest China’s coal-rich Guizhou province and Chongqing municipality were on the NEA’s radar, with both provinces expected to close 65.4 million and 12.7 million tonnes of capacity, respectively.

Leading provinces like Shanxi, Inner Mongolia and Henan have basically completed tasks of shutting small mines, thus being assigned with no targets, according to the draft plan.

Meanwhile, China will also further reduce the operating coal mining enterprises this year, aiming to cut the number of operating producers to around 4,800 by the end of the year from more than 6,300 at the end of 2013.