Fewer miners but more coal

CHINA'S coal industry reduced its workforce by 101,100 in the first six months of this year - 70 per cent of the year's target of 145,000 lay-offs, the China News Service reports.

Coal output in the period totalled 500.9 million tonnes, 30.6 million more than expected and 1.3 per cent more than in the same period last year, the agency said.