Mexico suspends work at 32 coal mines over safety fears

MEXICO CITY Aug 9 (Reuters) - The Mexican government suspended work at 32 small coal mines in the northern state of Coahuila on Thursday on safety concerns after 13 coal miners died in explosions in the last three weeks.

Binsa, the operator of the mines, has 30 days to improve working conditions or face having its mining licenses revoked, an economy ministry spokesman said.

Coal mining is a major industry in Coahuila, where men have worked the largely unregulated small mines that dot the state for more than a century.

A 2006 methane explosion at the much larger Piedras Negras mine in the same state, owned by Grupo Mexico, killed 65 miners.

More recently, two separate explosions within the last three weeks led to the deaths of 13 more Coahuila coal miners.

Binsa also ran a Coahuila coal mine in which 14 miners died in 2011. The company could not immediately be reached for comment.