Core tip: Small coal mine accidents occur frequently, so why are well-equipped state-owned large mines also difficult to escape? An official of the Development Research Center of the State Council, Qian Pingfan, expressed that the Xinxing Coal Mine is not a large mine and there is no need for 500 people to work underground. There is suspicion of advancing recklessly in order to extract more coal. On November 25th, the China Youth Daily reported from Hegang that on November 25th, the temperature in Hegang dropped sharply, and it has been four days since the "11·21" major coal mine safety accident at the Xinxing Coal Mine. At 6:30 pm, it was already completely dark, and citizens of Hegang came from all corners of the city to the Zhenxing Square in Hegang, lit candles, and mourned the miners who lost their lives in the mine disaster.
The rescue operation related to the accident has come to an end, but the investigation of the accident is still proceeding intensively. As of noon on the 25th, the "11·21" explosion accident at Heilongjiang's Xinxing Coal Mine had confirmed 107 fatalities. The State Council Safety Production Committee announced today the preliminary investigation conclusion of the Heilongjiang Xinxing Coal Mine accident: the coal and gas outburst in the third level exploration coal drift underground caused the airflow to reverse direction, and a large amount of gas entered the second level intake system, encountering fire causing a gas explosion, affecting the entire mine, which is the main reason for this accident.
An article in the Hegang Miner's Newspaper reported that as of September 23rd, the Xinxing Coal Mine achieved an advance footage of 7,200 meters, completing the full-year task 100 days ahead of schedule.
Qian Pingfan, director of the research office of the Department of Industrial Economics Research under the Development Research Center of the State Council, said in an interview with the China Youth Daily that the annual output of the Xinxing Coal Mine is 1.45 million tons, which is not a large mine, so how could it require 500 people working underground? Two or three hundred people would be sufficient. Completing the development task 100 days ahead of schedule may have the suspicion of advancing recklessly in order to extract more coal.
It is worth noting that among the four larger mine disasters in Heilongjiang recently, three occurred in state-owned mines. Statistics show that since the beginning of this year, four particularly serious coal mine accidents in our country — the Shanxi Tunlan mine disaster, the Chongqing Tonghua mine disaster, the Henan Xinhua mine disaster, and the Heilongjiang Xinxing mine disaster — three of them occurred in state-owned large coal mines. This raises doubts: while small coal mine accidents occur frequently, why are well-equipped state-owned large coal mines also unable to avoid them?
Wu Rongkang, advisor to the China National Coal Association, told the China Youth Daily in an interview that in terms of equipment and communication, small coal mines cannot compare with large state-owned mines. Although accidents also occur in large mines, the frequency of accidents and the cumulative losses are much less than those of small coal mines. State-owned mines can reclaim small coal mines and improve overall levels through resource integration. He gave an example saying that after Datong and Xuzhou rectified the small coal mines, the overall safety level improved significantly.
However, Qian Pingfan believes that the goal of integrating coal mines must be clarified: is it to achieve economies of scale or to solve safety problems? There are multiple ways to solve safety issues, and merging small coal mines is not the only way to solve the problem. Safety issues are not necessarily related to the size of the coal mine; what is important is to strengthen safety awareness and management, and remain vigilant. If these issues are not resolved, merging them together may instead lead to more problems.
Lin Boqiang, director of the China Energy Economics Research Center at Xiamen University, believed that small coal mines have their own problems, lacking funds for technical investment, having no confidence in property rights, and thus engaging in plundering development without regard for safety. According to probability, state-owned coal mines are relatively safer compared to private ones. State-owned mines invest more, and if problems arise, a large number of officials will be held accountable. However, accidents still occur in state-owned mines, proving that the management of state-owned mines is not perfect.
Large enterprises merged according to government will are not necessarily big and strong. "In the past, the Huainan and Huaibei coal mines in Anhui were supposed to merge, but the two coal mines had too many differences. After our suggestion, they did not merge, and up to now, both coal mines have developed very well," Qian Pingfan said.
(Source: China Youth Daily Author: Wang Chao)