The Chinese government has announced that it will no longer grant approval for construction of coal mine projects with designed annual capacities below 300,000 mt. Meanwhile, approval will also be denied for coal mine projects with annual capacities below 900,000 mt which face coal and gas outbursts. Furthermore, up to the end of 2015 China will shut down over 2,000 small coal mines as part of efforts to increase safety in mining and to reduce accidents.