China's Shanxi Province looks to slash 16 million tonnes of backward mining capacity in state-owned coal mines in 2018, Xinhua Net reported March 7.
The provincial land and resources department launched a three-month campaign beginning this March set to stand against illegal mining in an effort to curtail the resurgence of mining activities in closed coal mines, the report said.
Department head Zhou Jianchun said they are set to survey all coal mines during the campaign and will register both closed and operating coal mines on its electronic database to establish a blacklisting system to monitor any irregularities in mining.
The last five years has seen the coal-rich province cut 51 million tonnes of outdated coal production capacity and close 56 mines, the report said.
In 2017 alone, about 12.8 million tonnes of coal production capacity were cut by closing down 10 mines, the report said, citing the provincial state-owned assets supervision and administration commission.
