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Liven Apuleni, district commissioner of Livingstone City, 480km south of Lusaka, said underground operations at Collum Coal Mining Industries Ltd had been suspended until management improved safety for its workers.
"Operations at the Chinese-owned coal mine . . . have been suspended," Apuleni told journalists from state media.
Officials at Collum Mining were not available for comment.
Apuleni said officials from the government's mine safety department had visited the mine and found that workers were not given safety clothing when going underground to mine coal. He gave no other details of government's safety concerns.
Zambian newspapers said two weeks ago that the mine also paid low wages to its Zambian staff, leading to a government order that Collum raise salaries.
Language barrier
Apuleni said Collum Mining Industries Ltd had been told to hire Zambian supervisors to ensure there was communication between workers and management. Collum's supervisors are all Chinese and speak little or no English, the official language in Zambia.
Collum is one of the coal suppliers to Konkola Copper Mines, the country's largest copper miners. It was not immediately clear whether the suspension of coal production would affect Konkola operations.
The coal mine has forecast raising production to 480 000 tonnes in 2008 from 120 000 tonnes this year. It also exports coal to copper mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The state-owned Maamba Collieries Ltd, is Zambia's oldest coal mine and produces 120 000 tonnes of coal per year despite its production capacity of 600 000 tonnes per year.
Collum employs 400 Zambians and 35 Chinese.
