Below are replies to the various emails responding to my initial query
yesterday
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David
First off, YES please, I would be very interested in a look at your 'China:
The World's Largest Coal Producer' booklet, either scanned in or if you are
prepared to loan it by snail mail. It sounds well worth reading.
Also thanks very much for the other info in your email The photos on the
John Raby webpages are well worth looking at. One part that particularly
interested me in http://www2.gol.com/users/jraby/pengzhou.htm was the
comment pasted in below:
"China leads the world in coal production--and in lives lost in the mines.
About 5,400 coal miners perished in explosions and other accidents during
the first 11 months of last year (2001). That compares with about 30 mining
deaths a year in the United States, which ranks a close second to China in
coal production." Ching-Ching Ni, Los Angeles Times (as syndicated in the
Daily Yomiuri February 4, 2002). The article quotes Shanxi as being the
province with the most small mines and some of the worst accident
statistics."
These sort of statistics on the number of deaths in Chinese coal mines show
just how the health and safety regulations must be ignored in some of the
privately operated mines (and in some of the state run mines too maybe). In
the latest Shropshire Caving & Mining Club journal (Below 2002.3), there is
an article that says how the Ukraine coal mines are considered amongst the
world's most dangerous and another page and a bit on Chinese mine accidents.
These give a lot of other interesting details, but amongst these are:
3500 miners killed in China so far this year (at least);
5395 miners killed in China in 2001, a drop of 403 compared to 2000;
more than 3700 miners killed in the Ukraine in the last 10 years
So Ukraine is not quite in the same league as China, but then China has a
lot more inhabitants and I've no doubt a heck of a lot more mines too.
I am intrigued as to how many mines near to the Yangtze river above the
three gorges dam will be closed due to flooding. The opinion when I asked
this on the list a few years ago (after a holiday in China) was very few.
However they will already have had to build a lot of new coal loading
'docks' at a higher level on the river. I hope to return to the Yangtze one
day when the dam is up to its top level to see the huge difference that it
is bound to have made to the area.
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Daz
I am sure that some Chinese coal mines are very good from the H&S point of
view and use modern 'state of the art' type of equipment, as you comment on
in your email. However I am sure that the great majority of the fatalities
and other accidents in Chinese mines happen in the privately run mines of
which I understand there are thousands.
The equipment being bought from Brush Transformers for the Shenhua Group's
mines (as in my email yesterday) has I'm sure been tendered internationally
too. Certainly the Chinese are among the biggest producers of coal in the
world and have been for quite a long time.
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Incidentally, following my email yesterday, I just put "Shenhua Group" into
Google it comes up with some information on that mining company which of
course relates how good the company is. Its quite detailed, giving analyses
of their different qualities of coal for example. It is written in English
and very readable.
I also had a private email from Bob in the USA giving me some good sounding
references to follow up. It is really good to see that there is so much
interest in mining, even current day mining around the other side of the
world.
Thanks to all; any other info on this topic welcome.
Roger
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