BEIJING - CHINA will allow more than 10,000 coal mines that were closed amid a safety drive to reopen due to an energy shortage caused by the recent winter weather crisis, state press said on Thursday.

'Due to the winter weather disaster and lengthy (Lunar New Year) holiday break in mine output, the pressure on coal production ability has been great,' the Beijing News quoted national work safety chief Li Yizhong as saying.

'For the time being, the State Administration of Work Safety... will allow more than 10,000 closed coal mines to resume production under stiffened inspection standards,' said Mr Li, who heads the administration.

China has in recent years attempted to close thousands of unsafe and illegal coal mines in an effort to stem the horrific number of accidents that claim roughly 10 lives a day on average.

Nearly 3,800 lives were lost in the coal mines last year, according to official figures, but independent labour groups say the real toll is much higher as many accidents are covered up to prevent shutdowns and legal action.

The government claimed to have closed thousands of mines in its safety campaign.

Top officials acknowledged that the drive was at least partly responsible for dwindling national coal stocks that worsened into an energy crisis when a historic winter weather front hit large swathes of the country in January.

Freezing weather caused nationwide transport havoc just as an estimated 180 million people tried to embark on annual trips home for the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday in early February.

The transportation woes temporarily squeezed distribution of coal, which supplies about 70 per cent of China's energy needs, driving national stockpiles down to perilously low levels, according to past reports in the state-run press.

Mr Li, who spoke on the sidelines of the two-week National People's Congress, which opened on Wednesday, did not say how long the reopened mines would be allowed to stay in production, according to the Beijing News report.