townhall.com
Meng Meng
February 20, 2017

BEIJING (Reuters) – China will launch a nationwide safety check on all coal mines as miners convene in Beijing to discuss a curb on supply, the official People’s Daily said.

The country’s work safety watchdog said the inspection will last from March to the end of this year, targeting coal mines that are either involved in illegal mining or are not able to meet safety standards.

“We will completely shut down coal mines that have produced more coal than the government have allowed,” the State Administration of Work Safety said. “Some of the coal mines repeatedly ignored warnings from us and continued to dig in regions that are deemed unsafe.”

The news came as China’s top coal producers meet on Tuesday to discuss plans for stabilizing output this year, the official Shanghai Securities News reported.

The meeting organized by the China Coal Association will assess current operations and explore further measures to ensure stable output, the newspaper said in a report on its website on Monday.

(Reporting by Meng Meng and Beijing Monitoring Desk; Editing by Richard Pullin)