"Coal mining companies are not allowed to send promoted assistants in place of the managers," Huang Yi, spokesman for the State Administration of Work Safety, was quoted as saying by the official China Daily newspaper.

His comments come after a coal mining firm in the southern region of Guangxi recently promoted seven people as 'assistants to managers' to do the bosses' job for them, the report said.

A new rule, due to take effect on October 7, requires mine managers to go underground with workers. The idea is that the top brass should share the risks with miners as a way of ensuring companies more closely observe safety rules.

China's vast coal mining industry is notoriously accident-prone due to lax regulation, corruption and inefficiency as mines rush to meet soaring demand.

Last year 2,631 miners were killed, according to official figures, but independent labour groups say the actual figure could be much higher as many accidents are covered up to avoid costly shutdowns.

"To prevent accidents, the coal mine leaders have to go down into the pits with workers and solve the potential safety problems," Huang was quoted as saying.

"The managers' assistants cannot be counted as coal mine leaders, which refers to the management, and chief and deputy chief engineers of the coal mine."

If the managers deliberately fail to obey the regulation, the company will be liable to fines of up to five million yuan (746,000 dollars) and a ban on production if accidents happen, the report said.

earlier related report
PSA Citroen Peugeot plays down C6 model move to China
Paris (AFP) Sept 23, 2010 - French auto giant PSA Peugeot Citroen said on Thursday it wants its cars destined for the Chinese market to be made in China but was not planning to build its luxury C6 model there.

PSA said, however, that it had no plans -- contrary to reports -- to build the successor to its Citroen C6 saloon model in China, the world's largest and fastest growing auto market.

"No, not at all. The C6 is a relatively new car. There are no plans in that sense," PSA spokesman Hugues Dufour told AFP in response to reports the high-end model, currently made in Rennes, western France, would be built in China.

"The Chinese market is growing full speed ahead, based on mid- to upper mid-end saloons such as the C5 or the (Peugeot) 508," Dufour said.

"The group's strategy in China is to build for the Chinese market and to strengthen our model range with cars in the ... mid- and upper mid-range such as the C5, which we have already launched in China, and the 508 which we will launch in 2011," he said.

"These cars are launched for the Chinese market; they are also built in Rennes ... for the European market," he said, noting that PSA plans a dozen new models for the China over the next five years."

On Monday, PSA announced it would build its third plant in China, its second most important market overall.

Auto sales in China hit 9.02 million in the first half of 2010, a year-on-year rise of 48 percent, according to Chinese figures, as the market booms on the back of sustained economic growth and development.

Western and Japanese auto firms all have major plants and interests in China, attracted by its stellar growth prospects.

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