China's major coal-producing provinces Shanxi, Inner Mongolia and Shaanxi will suspend the approval of newly proposed coal mines or expansion projects with capacity lower than 1.2Mtpy, according to a notice jointly issued by the Ministry of Emergency Management and the National Mine Safety Administration on August 10.

Newly-proposed and expansion projects with capacity lower than 600,000tpy will not be approved in Ningxia, and in other provinces, new projects with capacity below 300,000tpy will not be approved.