All Chinese coal mines vulnerable to gas blasts must be equipped with a safety monitoring system by December, China's State Administration of Production Safety (SAPS) announced Tuesday.

The administration has earmarked 50.2 million yuan (or 6.07 million US dollars) to 15 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities for the construction of safety monitoring systems in 104 coal mines.

The digital system will be mainly used to monitor a coal mine's gas content as gas blasts, which have become a top killer in China 's mining industry, said a SAPS notice released Tuesday.

By December, coal mines that haven't installed the system or whose systems fail to work well will be closed. Coal mines whose monitoring systems are not connected with local safety supervision authorities will have to stop production to straighten out their problems.

The administration warns that a nationwide overhaul will soon be launched to evaluate the operation of the new systems.

According to official statistics, since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, approximately 95 percent of coal mine accidents with a death toll of more than 100 have been caused by gas blasts.

Source: Xinhua