China will shut down 4,861 unsafe small coal mines by the end of 2007 as the government tries to reduce the number of accidents, a senior official in charge of coal mine safety said yesterday.

Of the total, 2,652 mines will be shut down by the end of this year and the remaining 2,209 mines will follow suit in 2007, said Zhao Tiechui, head of the State Administration of Coal Mine Safety. China still has 17,000 small coal mines even after mass closures in recent years. Small mines account for one-third of China's coal production, but cause two-thirds of the deaths.