Russian authorities are telling coal miners to raise their standards or risk being shut down, in a new fight against lax safety which is killing miners.

Accidents in Siberian mines have killed more than 150 miners in the past 16 months.

Russia’s coal accounts for 12–15% of the global coal trade but it is falling far behind Western producers when it comes to safety, Australian government agency Austrade told International Longwall News.

Based in Moscow, Austrade Russian business development manager Tatyana Semchishina said from June this year Russian authorities started inspecting safety standards in Siberian coal mines.

Following the inspections Russian industrial safety regulator Rostekhnadzor stopped operations in over 50% of Kuzbass (Kemerovo region) mines, in Western Siberia.

Rostekhnadzor reported that from 72 mine inspections for compliance with industrial safety regulations, over half the mines were found to have life hazards.

The inspections exposed 6566 violations of legislation and the regulator fined 40 legal entities, 583 officials and 36 individuals for a total of $US106,929.

Operations at 52 mines were suspended, including the Baikimskaya, Kolmogorovskaya-2 and Krasnogorskaya facilities.

Russian mining analysts predicted the safety inspections would be a positive for coal prices, as the closure of unsafe mines would tighten supply.

Larger coal mines active in the Kemerovo region, such as Raspadskaya, Mechel, Belon Group and Kuzbassrazrezugol, would stand to benefit, said analysts.

Last month a methane flash at Mechel’s Southern Kuzbass Lenin mine left 17 miners with burns and halted mining operations.