Crackdown shuts over 700 illegal mines in north China

Authorities in a major Chinese coal-producing province on Wednesday announced they had shut down 754 illegal mining sites in an intensive five-month crackdown since April.

The crackdown was targeted at the unlicensed operation of mines and illegal mining under the cover of projects concerning ecological restoration, village resettlement and rural development, said a spokesman of the land resources bureau in north China's Shanxi Province.

Amid the crackdown, 191 people were punished by legal or administrative measures. Authorities also confiscated 1,731 tonnes of minerals from the illegal mines.

Illegal mining activities had been blamed for coal mine accidents, ecological deterioration and sometimes violent conflicts with local villagers.

Shanxi is the second-largest coal-producing region in China after Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. It holds about 270 billion tonnes of coal reserves, about a quarter of the country's total. The province's coal output reached 872 million tonnes in 2011 and is expected to rise to 100 million tonnes annually in coming years.