What has become of the western open-pit coal mine in Fushun, China, after 118 years of mining?

Tech 2023-07-17 15:14:37 Source: Network

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In today's society, the development of human society relies on many sources of energy, such as electricity, oil, minerals, and various new energy sources that emphasize cleanliness and efficiency, such as wind, hydro, solar, nuclear, and so on.

But in the last century, when human technology and ideological level had not yet reached the current level, an important resource that humanity relied on was coal. In Fushun, China, there is a coal mine that is the largest open-pit coal mine in China and also the largest open-pit coal mine in Asia. Its mining history has reached 118 years, witnessing the growth and development of New China.

The Glory and End of the Western Open Pit Coal Mine

In May 2019, the western open-pit coal mine in Fushun, Liaoning was officially shut down. As the seventh largest open-pit coal mine in the world, the West Openpit Coal Mine has excavated a total of 280 million tons of coal and 530 million tons of oil shale during its 118 year history of mining, paying 658 million yuan in profits and taxes for New China. Its direct or indirect wealth creation is countless, and it is an indispensable and important project in the construction process of New China.

The western open-pit coal mine is located in Fushun, Liaoning. If we want to trace its history, it probably dates back to the Qing Dynasty. At that time, the rulers of the Qing Dynasty, the Manchu people, established themselves here, so the Liaoning area was considered the land of Longxing. If an important person dies, sometimes they choose to build a tomb here.

The open-pit coal mine in Fushun, Liaoning was discovered after a series of visits. However, due to the abundant national strength at that time and the importance of this area to the Manchus, no large-scale mining work was carried out.

Later, Western powers forcefully opened up China's gates with cannons, and the Qing government signed many compensation treaties for the loss of power and humiliation of the country. Even if the national treasury was emptied, it was unable to pay the skyrocketing "compensation". At this point, the alternate magistrate Wang Chengyao pointed out that the Fushun ore vein is more than 20 kilometers away from the imperial tomb, and the mineral resources are of high quality. If mining is carried out, it can alleviate the urgent need. The Qing court had no choice but to agree to this move.

Finally, Wang Chengyao raised 100000 taels, along with 60000 taels of capital added by Russia, to establish Huaxingli Company, and Weng Shou established Fushun Coal Mine Company, jointly responsible for the mining of coal mines in the Fushun area. But soon after, the two companies were occupied by the Russians. In 1905, Russia was defeated in the Russo-Japanese War, and Japan seized the coal mining right in Fushun.

It was not until after the Anti Japanese War that New China finally regained control of the Fushun coal mine. Over the past 40 years, over 80 million tons of coal were exported from Fushun, from which Japan profited over 200 million. In addition, in order to improve mining efficiency, Japan's equipment and technology used in the coal mining process are relatively advanced, which also provides technical and experiential references for China's future mining work.

After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, in order to restore national strength as soon as possible, it was decided to vigorously develop heavy industry. Whether it is large-scale steel refining or production in other industries, power and fuel are indispensable, leading to a sharp increase in the country's demand for coal. We have specially imported the most advanced technology and equipment from abroad to improve mining efficiency. By 1962, the daily Coal mining volume of Fushun West Open pit Coal Mine alone was more than 50000 tons.

As the coal seams in the west open pit mining area are relatively close to the surface, Surface mine mining is adopted, which is also the source of the name of the mining area. Compared with the underground coal seam mining, which requires drilling and the construction of tunnels and various infrastructures, Surface mine is less difficult and costs less. Moreover, compared with underground mining, Surface mine is also safer.

Generally speaking, the coal mining method in open-pit mining areas first involves blasting open the surface stones with explosives, treating the ground sand and stones, and then using hammers or explosives to transport the coal seams into small pieces. The coal resources that can be mined through open-pit work are not related to human behavior, but entirely depend on natural arrangements. Only 40% of the world's coal resources are suitable for mining using this method, while the amount of coal resources suitable for mining in China is only 6%.

It is precisely because Fushun, along with other regions, has provided continuous support for the development of New China at no cost and coal resources that China has been able to achieve rapid development in just a few decades. However, until now, after long-term mining, the local coal resource reserves in Fushun have sharply decreased, with the closure of Longfeng Mine, Shengli Mine, and finally the West Open Pit Coal Mine.

After 118 years of mining, the originally fertile and flat land only left a huge deep pit. The mine pit is approximately 6600 meters long and 2200 meters wide, with a total volume of 1.7 billion cubic meters. It is 424 meters away from the surface of the excavation layer at the pit mouth and is close to the height of a 140 story building. If calculated on a horizontal plane, the distance between the lowest point of a coal mine and the sea level is 339 meters, which is the lowest point in mainland China.

Guidance and reference for the development and restoration of other mining areas

Due to the large amount of dust generated during coal mining and the release of a large amount of carbon dioxide during combustion, China is gradually seeking cleaner energy sources to replace coal resources. But until now, coal still occupies the main position in China's total energy consumption. However, due to outdated production capacity, in order to reduce losses, China has successively shut down more than 5500 coal mining enterprises.

Everyone knows that the formation and deposition of coal takes a long time and is a non renewable energy source. Although there are currently multiple energy options available, in China, coal is more widely distributed, has larger storage capacity, stable supply, and cheaper prices. Currently, China's known coal reserves account for 12.6% of the world's total, with an annual raw coal production of approximately 4 billion tons, ranking first in the world.

At present, the coal reserves that can be directly utilized in China are 188.6 billion tons. In addition, there are 3317 tons of coal that meet mining technical standards and can be mined if necessary. Based on known coal reserves and distribution, it is predicted that there are 6872 tons of unexplored coal waiting for our excavation. That is to say, according to calculations, China's coal resources are expected to exceed 1 trillion tons.

According to data released by the state, in 2022, China burned a total of 5.41 billion tons of standard coal, accounting for 56.2% of the total energy consumption. Nearly 86% of the coal is mainly used for thermal power generation and to provide power for mechanical operation. So, even though our country is striving to achieve resource transformation, it is still coal resources that are being provided as a guarantee.

It is undeniable that vigorously developing coal resources will indeed bring various ecological and social problems. For example, in the coal mining of Fushun West Open Pit Mine, the coal resources were excavated but not backfilled in a timely manner, resulting in many underground cavities, unstable geological structures, and easy triggering of natural disasters such as mudslides. Underground cavities can also cause ground subsidence, and if houses are built in collapsed areas, the consequences are unimaginable.

In order to facilitate transportation, some railways have been built in the mining area, which are directly connected to the national transportation network, facilitating the direct transportation of coal to various parts of the country. At the same time, there are also processing plants built in the mining area to process the extracted coal. Both mining and factory construction have led to the generation of a large amount of dust and exhaust gas, resulting in severe pollution of nearly 2.2 million square meters of arable land in the surrounding area, making it impossible to plant, and greatly affecting the health of residents. For the sake of health, residents have to migrate outward, and the population in Fushun area has sharply decreased.

The local government has also made corresponding policy adjustments to address these phenomena in a timely manner. When the production capacity of the western open-pit coal mine in Fushun decreased, the local government decided to establish a coal museum on the surface of the coal mine based on its uniqueness, long history, and outstanding contributions. The project also passed the acceptance of the National Tourism Administration in July 2004, becoming an important representative of contemporary Industrial tourism projects.

In response to the problem of underground cavities, the government has also decided to use backfilling methods, but the 1.7 billion cubic meters of vacancies are not easy to fill. The current approach is to transport the sand or stones separated from the mining of oil shale in the east open-pit mine to the large pit of the west open-pit mine for landfill. This not only gradually repairs the "sinkhole" in the western open-pit mine, but also saves nearly 2.57 million yuan in annual expenses for the eastern open-pit mine.

At the same time, attention should be paid to local ecological restoration when filling the pit. Coal mining will release a large amount of dust and methane gas, which is easy to cause fire and explosion, so a large number of surface vegetation is required to absorb dust and harmful gas in the air. In order to help Fushun better "rejuvenate", the country invested 400 million yuan, and the local government invested 418 million yuan to establish an ecological park, promote urban greening, and improve the ecological environment of Fushun.

In terms of Coal mining and utilization, the government and enterprises in Fushun have also proposed many innovative ways. For example, promoting the construction of intelligent coal mines and utilizing robots to mine and excavate coal can greatly improve the efficiency of mining work, reduce labor costs, and effectively reduce personnel casualties.. Currently, 26 types of robots have been put into use on site in coal mines.

In addition, other related industries and technologies can also be developed to form a large-scale Sex industry. For example, establishing relevant industrial chains in mineral parks, developing mechanical manufacturing technology, logistics technology, etc., and striving to achieve higher levels of coal processing in small areas, improving production efficiency and profits. If the mining area is unique, it can also try to carry out Industrial tourism projects.

In addition, coal can not only be used as fuel, but also has various unique properties. Through different extraction and processing methods, tens of thousands of chemical products can be produced, such as formaldehyde, urea, and so on. This utilization method can effectively reduce the cost of the product and increase its value.

The Fushun West Open Pit Coal Mine has been assisting China's development for over a hundred years, and its own history of development still provides many valuable experiences for other coal mines to learn from. In today's environment, coal will still be the main energy source for China's development for a long time in the future. All major coal mining enterprises and corresponding governments should learn from the development of the West Open pit Coal Mine, improve mining technology, and pay attention to the governance of environmental problems caused by Coal mining.

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