The neat and tidy control room at a northwestern China coal mine was a surprise to De Wet Mulder, who on his last visit to a Chinese pit 10 years ago was so frightened by the appalling safety measures he saw that he wanted to bolt for safety immediately.
Mulder is one of the nine specialists from Australia and South Africa who have returned from a coal mine tour to China's Gansu Province, and exchanged expertise in coal mine safety and rescue management with their Chinese counterparts, as China tries to improve the lot of its miners by accessing experience from other countries.
The program, run by the China Association for International Exchange of Personnel under the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs (SAFEA), has invited 58 overseas experts to the country.
On their one-day tour to the northern China province last week, the group visited a rescue center, a control room and a power plant generating electricity with coal-bed methane on the Jingyuan coal mine.
Recalling his visit to two coal mines in Shanxi Province in 1997, Mulder, the head of refuge chamber manufacturer BroKrew Industrial (Pty) Ltd. said he was chilled by the absence of emergency preparations at Chinese coal mines.
"They didn't even have seals on the electric switch. It could cause gas blasts when you turn it on and off," said Mulder. "I wanted to turn back and run out almost as soon as I went down the pit."
The modern Jingyuan coal mine that carries out 95 percent of its mining work by machines clearly updated Mulder's impression. Jingyuan Coal Industry Limited Corporation, which owns the coal mine they visited, is a state-owned coal producer which made a profit of 40.27 million yuan (5.44 million U.S. dollars) last year.
"It has improved a lot compared with the backward and dangerous mines I visited last time in China. The control rooms and the rescue centers has facilities that is up to international standard," said Mulder, but he refrained from making an early judgment of the overall condition of Chinese collieries because the coal mine is the only place they visited in the northwestern province.
Their destination is a middle-sized one among the country's countless coal mines. With an annual capacity of 8 million tons, it is dwarfed by Chinese state-owned energy giant Shenhua Group, which produced 203 million tons of raw coal last year. It ranks 59th in the nation's top 100 coal producers according to Chinacoal Website.
Like many other coal mines in China, Jingyuan Corp. also had lost the lives of its miners to the deeps of the pit. A coal mine gas explosion blasted out in the company's Weijiadi mine in October last year, killing 29 people and injured 19. The mine manager was sacked. Earlier in May the same year, a carbon monoxide poisoning accident caused nine deaths in another mine belonging to the company.
But now the company's modern rescue center stationed by uniformed permanent staff drew applause from South Africa's Mines Rescue expert Dave Sheppard. "Although we have rescue teams for coal mines, they are volunteers who mostly work for a short time only. But they have permanent rescue staff, who are more experienced," said Sheppard.
The progress in Jingyuan Corp. is but a miniature of the efforts of the whole country to reduce its mining accidents. China invested 3 billion yuan (404.9 million U.S. dollars) in 2007 to upgrade the safety facilities in key state-run coal mines. A total of 37.8 billion yuan has been allocated in the previous two years to improve the mine tunnels, set up gas monitors and bring in more machines.
Chinese mining companies are required to set aside two to 15 yuan for every ton of coal output since 2004. The money should be used for mine upgrade. The nation's most important coal producer, northern China's Shanxi Province, even demanded coal mines with high gas density to earmark 52 yuan per ton to guarantee the safety of its miners.
Death tolls in coal mine accidents have been reduced by 19 percent to 3,069 people in first 10 months this year.
But the achievements seems ridiculous when a gas explosion in a mine in Shanxi Province on Wednesday December 5 caused the death of 104 miners. Six hours were lost before the explosion was reported to local authorities, as the colliery managers tried to begin their own rescue operations.
The coal mine Xinyao, owned by Ruizhiyuan Mining Co., has an output of only 210,000 tons annually.
The Xinyao coal mine, if newly established, will not be allowed to run into business by an industrial policy recently issued by China's economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission by the end of last month. It prohibits the establishment of any new coal mine with an annual output under 300,000 tons.
The same policy also demanded that 13 large coal mine bases be constructed across China to guarantee sustainable coal supply.
But Sheng Xue, a senior research engineer on exploration and mining from Australia who was familiar with China, said the government ignores an important player in formulating effective policies.
He suggested that in the drafting and implementation of any mine safety guideline and regulation, mine workers, who are to implement the regulation, should "get involved in the first instance and they can provide many useful suggestions as to the compliance and practicality of the guideline and regulation."
China has been sending coal mine owners, technicians and safety supervisors to South Africa and Australia to receive trainings under the central government's SAFEA program and through local and private channels, but the grassroots mine workers who are new to this risky career often lacked guidance.
Sheng also suggested that investigation outcomes of mine safety accidents be made public, so that people could discuss and learn from previous lessons.
"More fundamental issues need to be addressed to significantly improve mining safety in China." Sheng said.
The long-term outcome of China's new industrial policy is still unclear. The country's many coal mines, and the obstacles in regulating them, defy simple solution. But China is making efforts, and also progress. As SAFEA deputy head Sun Zhaohua said at the exchange forum upon the arrival of overseas guests, as part of the country's endeavor to tackle its mine safety problem, the experience and the insight of overseas experts "would definitely help to improve China's protection of its miners."