OREANDA-NEWS. The Hebei provincial government has sped up the process of closing down outmoded production facilities in the coal-mining industry and has reached the national goal in advance by three years.

Hebei province work safety authorities said, on Monday. Another 37 coal mines were shut down in 2012, cutting the outdated capacity by 2.3 million tons, or about four times the State government quota, according to the Hebei work safety administration, on Monday.

In the past two years, the province has shut down about 166 outdated coal mines, reaching its goal of the Twelfth Five-year plan in shutting down unqualified coal mines three years ahead of time. Meanwhile, major energy enterprises, such as the Kailuan Groups and Jizhong Energy Group have been taking steps since 2011 to integrate 150 mines and the Zhangjiakou and Handan governments have sent hundreds of officials to oversee the shut down.

In addition, the province has looked for ways to improve coalmine management for the prevention of mine flooding and reducing the amount of illegal construction and mining. All existing mines will be expected to finish their safe engineering improvements in three months. By the end of 2013, there will be five pilot mines with high flooding-prevention standards and at least 20 mines at Safety-level 1.