The coal mines in the province will be reduced from 1,850 to less than 1,000 in order to improve control and work safety at the remaining mines, reported China News Digest.
Of the total some US$206.6 million will target coal mine fire control projects, about US$33.6 million will be invested in coal mine control systems and equipment and the remaining $506.3 million in improving the equipment at smaller scale township mines.
In the next five years, Northern China's Shanxi province will close down almost 6,700 small-scale coal mines where small-scale mines total more than 10,000. The total number of coal mines in Shanxi will be capped at between 10,000 and 15,000.
China's southern Guangdong province plans to close down all coal mines in the province by 2015 because of work safety concerns, depletion of deposits and the poor economic parameters of coal production. The province will not issue licences for developing new mines in the future.
