SHANGHAI, March 18: China targets a 14-18 per cent rise in coal output to between 2.5 billion-2.6 billion tons a year by 2010, the China Daily said on Saturday, citing the country’s coal industry blueprint.

That growth rate is slower than a 68 per cent rise in coal output in the first half of this decade, when thousands of miners died in cave-ins, flooding, explosions and gas-leaks in badly-supervised mines. An average 16 miners a day died in Chinese coal mines in 2005.

By 2010, coal will account for 80 per cent of China’s energy needs, up from 76 per cent now, the paper said, citing Guo Yuntao, director of the China Development Research Centre for the Coal Industry, which is drafting the blueprint.

The blueprint calls for developing 13 “coal production bases” — in line with similar plans for consolidation in the steel and metals sectors.

China currently has 24,000 mines with annual capacity of between 10,000 and 30,000 tons, accounting for 70 per cent of its coal production. Some 4,000 mines a year will be closed over the next three years, the China Daily said, citing Zhao Tiechui, head of the State Administration of Coal Safety Supervision.

A booming economy and strong coal prices have lifted Chinese coal production, and many mines reopen as soon as safety inspectors leave. Local government officials were recently prohibited from owning stakes in coal mines to help improve the industry’s record.—Reuters