North China province closes 15 mines

TAIYUAN - North China's Shanxi province has withdrawn the licenses of 15 coal mines, local sources said on Saturday.

The decision will cut annual coal production capacity by 10.6 million tonnes, according to the Shanxi land and resources department.

The 15 mines belong to six State-owned enterprises. Production capacity of the mines is between 300,000 and three million tonnes a year.

Shanxi province supplies about a quarter of China's coal.

China intends to slash about 500 million tonnes of coal capacity in five years starting from 2016 to address overcapacity in this sector.

Shanxi plans to cut 20 million tonnes of coal capacity in 2016.