Mining

Former miners sue county health department over occupational disease

In a bid to gain compensation and highlight the workplace health and safety obligations of local governments, a group of 75 former miners and their families from remote villages in Sichuan have filed an administrative lawsuit against a local county health department for dereliction of duty.

China orders employers to keep health records of workers in hazardous positions

In a potentially significant development in the fight against the occupational disease epidemic that is sweeping China, the State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS) is requiring employers to keep health records of all their employees who are exposed to health hazards.

Bloomberg Businessweek: Shanghai Pushing Gold to $1,600 Thwarts Fight to Shut Mines

Yu Zudong rides an orange truck rattling down Xiaoqinling mountain in central China, past a landscape pockmarked with gold caves and the garbage-strewn tent homes of workers. “Everybody here wants to earn a fortune,” says Yu, a migrant miner who is taking a 24-ton load of gray rocks to a grinder in the foothill town of Yuling. Nearby, sitting in one of the shanties, miner Li Shanchi waits for his next payday. He hasn’t worked for two months since officials closed some mines after a fire killed nine workers on the mountain, 800 kilometers (500 miles) southwest of Beijing. His lungs are filled with dust he inhaled during a decade of mining, he says, leaving him with silicosis, an incurable lung disease.

AP: China mines still deadly, as bosses ordered below

A month ago, China's premier ordered mining officials to go down into the shafts with their workers, but the step meant to improve safety in the world's deadliest mines hasn't saved lives.

China's basic work-related death compensation award to nearly double to 340,000 yuan

The standard compensation award for work-related injuries and death will be substantially increased next year, the state council announced Monday 26 July. From 1 January 2011, the basic one-time compensation award for work-related death will be raised from 200,000 yuan to 343,500 yuan. And when funeral expenses and monthly pension payments to the relatives of the deceased are included, the total payment will come to around 618,000 yuan on average.

Dying miner finally gets 136,000 yuan compensation in court mediated settlement

A retired miner from Sichuan with stage-three pneumoconiosis, who has been seeking occupational illness compensation from his former employer for the past three years, has finally been awarded 136,000 yuan in a court mediated settlement Xiao Huazhong had been seeking 190,000 yuan, the amount he should be legally entitled to, but accepted the lower award because he is currently seriously ill in hospital, has already spent his entire life savings of around 80,000 yuan on medical care, and is faced with additional hospital bills of several hundred yuan a day.

Henan coal mine blast highlights collusion between mine owners and local officials

At least 47 miners were killed and dozens more severely injured when an explosion ripped through a privately-run coal mine in Henan in the early hours of Monday morning. The Xingdong No 2 coal mine in Pingdingshan had been operating without a valid licence since 6 June, the official Xinhua news agency reported

Time Magazine: China and West Virginia: A Tale of Two Mine Disasters

Just as West Virginia families were hit with word of a deadly mine disaster on April 5, relatives of miners missing after a flood in China's coal belt welcomed some unexpected news. After eight days trapped underground, 115 coal miners in Shanxi province were dramatically rescued. In China, where mine disasters are grimly commonplace, the rescue was trumpeted as a miracle. And in the U.S., where mine safety is sometimes seen as a question that was resolved decades ago, the death of at least 25 men a painful reminder of the risks they face.

The Guardian: Flood warnings 'ignored' before Chinese mine disaster

Managers of a Chinese coal mine, where 153 workers are missing after flooding, ignored repeated warnings of water leaks, a government safety body said today. About 1,000 rescuers have been working round the clock to save those trapped at the Wangjialing mine in northern Shanxi province. There have been no signs of life since Sunday, when the disaster happened

Three workers die in Shenzhen sulfuric acid blast

Three workers died and another three were seriously injured during a sulfuric acid explosion at an electroplating factory in Shenzhen, China’s official media reported at the weekend.

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