The tragedy occurred early on Monday when torrential rains caused a dam to collapse, allowing sludge and waste from the Tashan iron mine to sweep down a hillside, burying buildings and homes in northern China's Shanxi Province.
A total of 35 people were also injured in the landslide.
It is still unclear how many people remain alive under rubble as over 2,000 rescuers, with the aid of more than 110 excavators, continue their frantic search to try and reach possible survivors.
A top provincial official, Wang Qingxian, dismissed reports that there were "hundreds" of people trapped under mud and rock, saying that rescuers had already combed about 60 percent of the area.
The landslide destroyed a market, a three-storey office building, and several homes within minutes, according to eyewitnesses.
Initial reports quoted rescuers as saying that "the unlicensed Tashan mine was operating illegally and the stored waste iron ore dregs had surpassed the capacity of the holding pond."
