Northwest China's coal-rich Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region plans to shut down 109 small coal mines to cut excess production capacity, local authorities said Saturday.
Small collieries, each with an annual production capacity of less than 300,000 tonnes, account for 70 percent of the total number of coal mines in the region, according to the regional coal industry bureau.
The 109 coal mines have a combined annual production capacity of 9.37 million tonnes. A total of 105 have suspended operations.
With estimated coal reserves of 2.19 trillion tonnes, Xinjiang had 270 coal mines as of the end of 2016.
The colliery closures are part of a national campaign. The country aims to reduce coal production capacity by 500 million tonnes by 2021.
Last year, more than 290 million tonnes of coal production capacity was phased out nationwide, and at least 150 million tonnes are scheduled for elimination this year.
