North China's Shanxi Province, the country's largest coal reserve, has produced 580 million tons of coal last year, year-on-year growth of 7 percent, officials said Tuesday.

 

Most of the output, or 466 million tons, were sold to other provinces and regions of China, bringing the province 191 billion yuan in sales revenue, said the Shanxi government officials here at a meeting.

 

State-owned enterprises accounted for 52 percent of the production and produced 34.7 million tons more than during the previous year, while small mines in towns and villages that were often blamed for fatal accidents reported a decline of 6.69 million tons, or 3.5 percent.

 

The production increase resulted in a remarkable income increase among miners, as those working in major state-owned enterprises earned an average 32,000 yuan last year, up 4,925 yuan from during the previous year.

 

(Xinhua News Agency February 7, 2007)