China plans to trim the number of small, dangerous coal mines by nearly half within the next four years, the government said Friday.

The number of small coal mines will be reduced from 21,000 to 11,000 by the end of 2010 by encouraging the industry to consolidate, said Huang Yi, spokesman for the State Administration of Work Safety, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

Larger mines are thought to be better equipped and easier to regulate.

Two-thirds of China's roughly 6,000 coal mine deaths last year occurred in small mines with backward equipment and poor management, Xinhua said.

China closed nearly 6,000 small coal mines in the first four months of this year, the report said.

Sometimes those mines that are closed will later secretly reopen, often with the help of local authorities who profit from their operations, according to news reports.

Small coal mines reported 763 deaths in 483 accidents during the same four-month period, Xinhua said.

Coal generates more than two-thirds of China's electricity and to keep pace with China's rapid economic development and surging energy demands, mines have stepped up output, often disregarding safety precautions.