Key Takeaways
A deadly gas explosion in China’s top coal-producing Shanxi province killed at least 82 miners and caused coking coal futures to jump by the daily limit on fears of wider safety-related production halts.
The blast occurred Friday evening at the privately owned Liushenyu mine, local officials said at a news conference Saturday, confirming more than 120 others were hospitalized, many with injuries from inhaling toxic gas.
The mine, operated by Shanxi Tongzhou Coal & Coke Group, has an annual capacity of 1.2 million tons. It was placed on a national list of disaster-prone coal mines in 2024 by China's National Mine Safety Administration for having "high gas content," according to a government notice.
The incident, the deadliest since a 2009 explosion in Heilongjiang province killed 108, is expected to trigger intense government scrutiny of the industry. This could curb output in a nation that produced 1.3 billion tons of coal in Shanxi alone last year, accounting for nearly a third of China's total.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for an all-out rescue effort and a "thorough investigation" into the cause of the explosion. Preliminary findings suggest "severe violations" of the law by the mine's operator, local officials said, and Xinhua News Agency reported that those responsible for the company have been "placed under control."
Rescue efforts were complicated by blueprints that did not match the mine's actual layout, state broadcaster CCTV reported. One hospitalized miner, Wang Yong, told the broadcaster he smelled sulfur "like firecrackers" and saw smoke before telling others to flee. "As I ran, I saw people being choked by the smoke. And then I blacked out," he said.
While China has been expanding its renewable energy capacity, it remains heavily reliant on coal to power its economy. The disaster highlights the persistent safety risks in the country's mining sector, which has a long history of deadly accidents. In February 2023, a collapse at an open-pit mine in Inner Mongolia killed 53 people, and a 2005 blast at the Dongfeng coal mine in Heilongjiang province resulted in 171 deaths. The government has frequently launched safety campaigns in the wake of major incidents, which can impact production at mines across the country.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
