TAIYUAN - North China's Shanxi Province will close down 18 collieries and cut 17 million tonnes of coal production capacity this year, local authorities said.

The mines across 11 counties, include nine that produce at least 900,000 tonnes annually, according to the province's leading group for cutting steel and coal overcapacity.

Last year, Shanxi reduced 23 million tonnes of coal capacity and shut down 25 coal mines.

With a quarter of China's proven coal reserves, Shanxi aims to limit the number of its mines to 900 by 2020, with an average production capacity of 1.8 million tonnes annually.

Shanxi set its economic growth target at 5.5 percent this year.