ABSTRACT
The aim of this chapter is to examine the development of China's township and village coal mines (TVCM) and to analyse the extent to which these mines have reduced or exacerbated marginalisation and poverty. The chapter begins by showing how these mines have contributed to both the national energy supply and to poverty reduction, before proceeding to examine negative impacts of the mining activity. The chapter describes the response of the government in 1980s and 1990s to these rising social costs and identify some of the main constraints to effectiveness of these measures. The chapter continues by documenting some of the impacts of the campaign to close the TVCMs in the late 1990s and how the resurgence of demand for energy from 2002 led to a reappearance of many of the problems of the previous decade. Small-scale mines, whether partly mechanised or artisanal, have long been a source of concern to policy makers and advisers in the international mining sector.
