The State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS) on Friday published a list of another 1,053 unsafe coal mines that must be closed, after having closed 651 this year.

The list includes 220 coal mines in Hunan, 207 in Sichuan, 140 in Chongqing, 80 in Shaanxi, 79 in Guizhou, 64 in Xinjiang and 51 in Liaoning.

Small coal mines accounted for a third of all the coal mines in China, but caused two thirds of the total deaths every year, said sources with the SAWS.

The authorities closed 5,931 small coal mines in 2005, and plan to shut down 10,000 small coal mines in 2008, after closing 2,652 from January 2006 to June 2007 and another 2,209 from July 2007 to June 2008.

Statistics from the SAWS show a total of 17,578 unsafe non-coalmines were closed from Jan. 1 to Dec. 20 this year.

In 2005, 2,342 people were killed in non-coal mining sector in China.

(Xinhua News Agency December 30, 2006)