Dust Control Practices in Chinese Coal Mines, with Remarks on Black Lung

Abstract

China has a massive mining industry and ranks number one in coal and other types of metal and nonmetal production and consumption as well as the number of people employed. Of the 15,000-plus coal mining operations, 95 percent are underground mining, and the majority of 100,000-plus metal and nonmetal operations are underground operations as well. Although there have been significant improvements in terms of the number of mining deaths and major mining accidents in recent years, concerns remain about China's mine safety in these operations, because of difficult geological and mining conditions, inadequate engineering capacity and a lack of consistent enforcement. Increasing public awareness of the difficult working conditions in China's mines and the proliferation of Internet use have positively influenced people's attitude and expectation towardsmine safety in recent years. There has also been an increasing pressure for public officials to improve working conditions at the mines, to hold officials accountable for mismanagement and mine disasters, and increasing funding for mine safety research. Hopefully, these will mark the beginning of a societal change toward mine safety similar to that what happened in the U.S. 60 years ago.

Department(s)

Mining Engineering

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

0026-5187

Document Type

Article - Journal

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2011 Society for Mining, Metallurgy & Exploration Inc. (SME), All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Jan 2011

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