Six miners trapped in flooded molybdenum mine in NE China

SHENYANG, March 14 (Xinhua) -- Six miners have been trapped in a molybdenum mine in northeast China since it flooded on Thursday afternoon, said sources with the local production safety authorities on Friday.

Rescuers are working in shifts to search for the miners, according to the provincial safety supervision administration.

The flooding occurred at around 2:00 p.m. at the underground pit operated by the Magou Mining Co. Ltd under the Lianshan Molybdenum (Group) Corp. in Huludao City.

Neither officials nor the mining company would give further details on the accident, but the Huludao municipal safety supervision administration immediately ordered all ore mines, but not coal mines, to stop production, and undergo thorough safety inspections.

Huludao is one of the most important molybdenum ore production centers in China. The hard, silvery-white metallic molybdenum is used to toughen steel alloys and soften tungsten alloys.