Mining in China - it's a job to die for
It was business as usual in the world's deadliest mining industry yesterday. Fourteen miners were killed in a coal mine gas blast in China's western province of Sichuan. Only three survived. The deaths in the county of Xingwen are the latest sorry addition to the appalling safety record of China's coal industry, which provides most of the fuel for the country's booming economy. Just last month 166 people died in a blast in northern Shaanxi province; in October, 146 were killed in an explosion in central Henan province.
Despite the remorseless rise in the death toll, 2004 is likely to prove a better year than most for China's army of coal miners. According to a government tally, 5,286 people died in accidents between January and November 451 fewer than in the first 11 months of 2003, and well within the official target.
With coal output climbing from last year's 1.67bn tonnes to a forecast 1.9bn tonnes in 2004, the industry's fatality rate has been cut to just under three deaths per million tonnes from 3.8 last year.
“This is the lowest rate in history,” Wang Xianzheng, director of the State Administration of Work Safety, said recently.
Officials say the improvement follows increased investment in safety by mining companies. In addition, the state has allocated more than Rmb3.4bn ($411m) to support reforms in 880 collieries in the past two years.
The government's emphasis on socially focused policies, summed up in the slogan “Putting people first”, may have persuaded mine managers to pay more attention to safety, particularly as a more outspoken domestic media are making it harder to cover up disasters. And yet casualty rates remain stunningly high by global standards. The official count shows the fatality rate per tonne of coal for China's miners was nearly 100 times that of their US counterparts.
To make matters worse, the statistics do not take account of the long-term health risks for workers who spend years toiling with rudimentary equipment in often poorly ventilated mines.
To reduce the toll, China is relying largely on callsfor existing rules to be enforced more vigorously and on a restructuringof the industry aimed at making mining operations more efficient and safer.
Small, privately run and often technically illegal mines have long been blamed for much of the carnage, as well as for running wasteful operations that pay little attention to environmental protection.
The state safety administration says deaths per million tonnes at small village and township mines are nearly six times as high as large at “national-level” collieries.
“By continuing to deepen safety management and by weeding out small mines or closing them down for reform, the hidden danger of accidents can be reduced at its source,” the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said in a policy paper last month.
Beijing intends to finalise plans early next year for the creation of 13 coal “bases” around the country. These will consolidate mining operations into large companies and integrate them with processing and power industries.
The 13 bases will include the country's 40 biggest coal mines, with reserves estimated by state media at 691bn tonnes 70 per cent of the national total.
In north-eastern Heilongjiang, for example, four state coal companies will merge to create a group with sales estimated at Rmb15bn. It plans to issue shares to overseas investors in Hong Kong next year.
There is a strong sense of déjà vu about attempts to crack down on small mines, however. A similar campaign in the late 1990s did bear fruit while coal prices were low but success proved temporary.
“After coal supplies became tight in the past two years, tens of thousands of companies big and small have been fighting for rights to mine coal resources and in some areas there has been blind and unregulated prospecting,” the NDRC said in its policy paper.
Even if officials do better this time round, closing small mines will not be a panacea for the industry's ills.
Corporate governance is weak even in the country's most prestigious industrial groups and the urge to boost profits by cutting corners can be strong. China's coal miners are likely to be living dangerously for a while.
中国煤炭业的致命诱惑
在全球最致命的煤炭业，业务曾一切如常。但在中国西部四川省，一座煤矿发生瓦斯爆炸，夺去了14位矿工的生命，仅有3人生还。煤炭业为中国蓬勃发展的经济提供了大部分燃料，但兴文县发生的这起死亡事故为该行业可怕的安全纪录添上了令人悲哀的最新一笔。仅在上月，就有166人在华北陕西省的瓦斯爆炸中死亡；今年10月，华中的河南省发生爆炸，导致146人死亡。
尽管死亡人数在无情地上升，但对于中国的煤矿工人大军来说，2004年可能要比大多数年份更好过些。根据政府的统计，今年1月至11月间，共有5286名煤矿工人死于事故，比2003年的头11个月要少451人，且远低于官方的指标。
预计中国的产煤量将从去年的16.7亿吨攀升至2004年的19亿吨，而该行业每百万吨产煤死亡人数已从去年的3.8人降至不足3人。
“这是历史最低水平，”国家安全生产监督管理局局长王显政最近表示。
官员们说，这种改善是在各矿业公司加大安全投资后出现的。此外，国家在过去两年里也划拨了34亿多元人民币（合4.11亿美元），支持对880个煤矿的改造。
政府强调以社会为重的政策，用一句口号来概括，就是“以人为本”。这番强调可能已说服了矿业经营者更加关注安全问题，尤其因为目前中国国内媒体说话更直率，使得掩盖灾难事故更困难。但以全球标准衡量，中国的矿难伤亡率仍然高得惊人。官方统计数字显示，中国矿工每开采一吨煤，死亡人数接近美国同行的100倍。
更糟糕的是，统计数据还不包括工人们承受的各种长期健康风险。这些工人多年在通风状况往往很差的矿井下辛苦劳作，而所用的装备十分简陋。
中国目前基本上依靠呼吁更严格地实施现行规定来降低死亡数字，同时也依靠旨在使开采作业效率更高、更安全的煤炭行业调整来实现目标。
长期以来，人们一直指责小型、私营、以及往往属于非法的矿井，认为它们应为大部分死亡事故负责，这些矿井还被指责从事不经济的开采活动，不重视环境保护。
国家安全生产监督管理局表示，乡镇小煤矿每百万吨产煤的死亡人数是大型“国家级”煤矿的近6倍。
国家发改委（NDRC）上月在一份政策文件中表示，要“继续深化煤矿安全整治，淘汰和关闭整顿小煤矿，从源头上减少事故隐患。”
中国政府打算在明年年初拿出最终计划，在全国各地建立13个煤炭“基地”。这些计划将把采煤企业合并成大型公司，并将其与加工和电力产业进行整合。
这13个基地将包括中国40个规模最大的煤矿。据官方媒体估计，这些煤矿的储量达到6910亿吨，占全国总量的70%。
例如在中国东北的黑龙江，4家国有煤炭公司将合并，以创建一个销售额估计达150亿元人民币的集团。该集团计划明年在香港上市，向海外投资者发售股份。
对于国家目前取缔小煤矿的种种努力，人们有着强烈的似曾相识感。上世纪90年代也有一场类似的打击行动，并确实取得了成果，但当时煤炭价格很低，可惜最终证明那次成功是短暂的。
国家发改委在政策文件中说，“近两年来，煤炭供应紧张后，大大小小几万家企业，争抢煤炭资源的矿业权，在一些地区形成盲目无序的勘探建设。”
即使政府官员们这一回能干得更出色，但关闭小煤矿也不会是根治该行业病症的万灵药。
即使在国家最负盛名的产业集团里，公司治理也很薄弱，而且通过走捷径来提高利润的欲望可能也很强烈。中国的煤矿工人可能还得过上一段危险的日子。
