<st1:country-region w:st="on">[size=font-size:10.0pt,10.0pt]China[size=font-size:10.0pt,10.0pt]
has the world'slargest mining industry[size=font-size:11.0pt,11.0pt]China has introducednew regulations to improve safety in mining, and some will argue that movestowards better safety can not come too soon.<st1:country-region w:st="on">[size=font-size:11.0pt,11.0pt]
China[size=font-size:11.0pt,11.0pt]
's minesare dangerous by any standard. More than 2,600 Chinese miners died in accidentslast year.[size=font-size:11.0pt,11.0pt]
The country's safety record is far worse than that ofother nations.[size=font-size:11.0pt,11.0pt]
This is partly because <st1:country-region w:st="on">China has the world's largestmining industry which inevitably makes the raw accident numbers look high.[size=font-size:11.0pt,11.0pt]
But its mine safety record is also poor by measures, withthe country accounting for 40% of global coal output but 80% of mining deathsaround the world each year.[size=font-size:11.0pt,11.0pt]
A Chinese miner is 100 times more likely to die in anaccident than a miner in the <st1:country-region w:st="on">US.[size=font-size:11.0pt,11.0pt]
However, <st1:country-region w:st="on">China'ssafety record is better than it was a few years ago.[size=font-size:11.0pt,11.0pt]
As recently as 2004, more than 6,000 Chinese miners diedin mining accidents - more than three times last year's level of fatalities.[size=font-size:12.5pt,12.5pt]Feweraccidents[size=font-size:10.0pt,10.0pt]
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Traditionally, mining was the single most dangerousoccupation in most countries, not just <st1:country-region w:st="on">China.[size=font-size:11.0pt,11.0pt]
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But around the world accident rates have been falling.[size=font-size:10.0pt,10.0pt]
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Open cast mining istypically safer than underground mining[size=font-size:11.0pt,11.0pt]
The trend has been particularly marked in wealthiernations. In the <st1:country-region w:st="on">US,for example, mining is now rated as barely more dangerous than driving on theroads.[size=font-size:11.0pt,11.0pt]
And there are fewer deaths in mining in the <st1:country-region w:st="on">US than ineither construction or agriculture.[size=font-size:11.0pt,11.0pt]
But this does not mean that mining is a safe occupation.The figures suggest that even today about 10 Americans are dying every month inmining accidents.[size=font-size:11.0pt,11.0pt]
Poorer countries have also seen the number of miningdeaths come down.<st1:country-region w:st="on">[size=font-size:11.0pt,11.0pt]
India[size=font-size:11.0pt,11.0pt]
, which hasthe world's third largest coal output after <st1:country-region w:st="on">Chinaand the <st1:country-region w:st="on">US,is a case in point.[size=font-size:11.0pt,11.0pt]
In the year 2000, more than 200 miners died in Indian coalmine accidents.[size=font-size:11.0pt,11.0pt]
By 2005, the figure was down to 35 deaths. This is themost recent year for which figures are available.[size=font-size:12.5pt,12.5pt]Open castmines[size=font-size:10.0pt,10.0pt]
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Mining fatalities roughly correlate with a country's levelof economic development, with accidents more common in poor nations than richones.[size=font-size:11.0pt,11.0pt]
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In wealthy <st1:country-region w:st="on">Australia,for example, seven miners were killed in accidents in 2008, compared with 35 in middle-income <st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia.[size=font-size:11.0pt,11.0pt]
However, <st1:country-region w:st="on">Russia'srecord - like that of most other countries- has greatly improved in recentyears.[size=font-size:11.0pt,11.0pt]
Safety is not simply linked to the level of GDP.[size=font-size:11.0pt,11.0pt]
One reason why <st1:country-region w:st="on">Australia's mines are relativelysafe is that they are mostly open cast. Underground mines tend to be moredangerous than operations that involve scooping out minerals close to thesurface.[size=font-size:11.0pt,11.0pt]
There have been some serious mining accidents involvinghundreds of deaths in recent years, but nothing to match the disasters of thepast.[size=font-size:11.0pt,11.0pt]
The world's worst coal mining accident took place in apart of <st1:country-region w:st="on">Chinathat was under Japanese occupation during World War II.[size=font-size:11.0pt,11.0pt]
In that incident, 1,549 miners died after a coal dustexplosion at Benxihu Colliery in Liaoningprovince in North Eastern China in April 1942.
