CHANGSHA - Authorities in Central China's Hunan province have suspended the production licenses of more than 200 coal mine pits for safety reasons.

At the conference on preventing coal mine gas outburst accidents held on Thursday, the provincial coal industry bureau released a list of 216 coal mine pits, which had failed to pass the inspection on gas outburst prevention.

All these pits are small in production scale, with annual production capacities of less than 90,000 tonnes each.

The bureau requested its lower-level branches to withhold licenses of relevant collieries by August 15 and supervise them on their correctional measures.

The inspection was put forward following two gas outburst accidents early July in Lianyuan city and Jiahe county in the province, killing 10 people.

If the suspended mines continue production, the local government will be advised to withdraw their operation licenses and authorize coal mine groups capable of preventing gas outburst to replace them, officials with the bureau said.

Gas outbursts are a major cause of coal mine accidents in Hunan, especially in small coal pits with low annual output capacities.