The blaze at the Fuxin Coal mine, in the northeastern province of Liaoning province, also left 52 people injured, the official Xinhua news agency said.
An initial investigation showed that coal dust in a shaft had ignited shortly after a weak magnitude 1.6 earthquake hit the mine, the report said.
Fuxin Coal said rescue operations were over and production had been suspended for safety checks.
While the death tolls in China is high by Western standards, official figures show that it is declining with the country recording 589 mining-related accidents, which left 1,049 people dead or missing, according to the government.
Based on these figures the number of accidents and fatalities were down more than 24% from 2012.
