Eight Killed in China Tungsten Mine, Output Unaffected

HONG KONG/BEIJING, Mar. 15 -- Eight miners died earlier this week in an accident at a Hunan Nonferrous Metals Holding Group Co tungsten mine in China, but production was not affected, an official at the company told Reuters on Friday.

The miners died of gas poisoning on Wednesday at the Yaogangxian mine, Xinhua news agency reported.

Yaogangxian, one of the world's richest tungsten deposits, is in Chenzhou in Hunan province.

Last August, the provincial government suspended all of Chenzhou's 270 coal mines for the rest of 2009 after an accident at a graphite mine killed 15 people.

China is the world's top producer of tungsten, which is used to harden steel.

Hunan Nonferrous, majority owned by China Minmetals Non-Ferrous Metals Co Ltd, controls Hunan Nonferrous Metals Co Ltd (2626.HK: Quote), Zhuzhou Smelter (600961.SS: Quote), China's top zinc producer, and Hsikwangshan Twinkling Star, which is the top antimony producer in China.