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Scientific research institutes in China and Russia have agreed to cooperate in the development of a new technology to prevent gas explosions in coal mines.
The technology is expected to benefit tens of millions of Chinese miners, according to information from an exhibition of high and new technologies, held in Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, Monday.
Chinese scientists and experts from the Russian Academy of Sciences branch in Siberia would renovate the existing safety technology being used in Russia's coal mines and develop a low-cost technology which could be used in China's coal mines, said Yang Zirong, president of the Resources and Environment College of the Liaoning Engineering Technology University.
The technology would be an information system comprising several sets of equipment with different functions. The system would monitor non-stop the coal mine shafts, examine the content of gas in the air and forecast possible gas leakages, thus preventing explosions.
The technology would be widely applied throughout China's coal mines, Yang said.
Due to technical and other reasons, coal mine accidents have occurred regularly in China. The first half of 2002 saw 2,014 coalmine accidents, claiming 3,393 lives.
Russian expert Boris Gerike said China needed effective safety technology and equipment to develop its mining industry. He expressed the hope that Chinese and Russian scientists would enhance cooperation in this field.
Gerike said no explosions had been reported in the coal mines in Russia's Kuzbass area since the monitoring system, independently developed by Russia, went into use seven years ago.
The two sides will organize exchanges of scholars and researchers to carry out the research program and will cooperate in other scientific research programs.
(Xinhua News Agency September 12, 2002)
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