Digging deep to upgrade mining

A coal-rich province is the label many people in China give Shanxi and their impressions of the coal-mining industry always include long and deep underground shafts where workers labor away in darkness.

However, such preconceptions would be shattered if one had visited a recent industrial show in Shanxi.

The 2020 Taiyuan Expo for Coal Mining Technologies and Equipment was held from Sept 15-17 in Taiyuan. Nearly 700 enterprises from China and abroad exhibited their latest products and technologies.

This year's expo is the largest event in terms of scale and participation in its 19-session history, according to Wang Shouzhen, secretary-general of the Shanxi Coal Industry Association, one of the organizers of the event.

Wang said the event is "a window to showcase China's coal industry to the world and an important venue for international industrial and technological cooperation".

At the expo, the most eye-catching exhibits were cutting-edge equipment and technologies that are being used to upgrade the industry.

Some included intelligent, automatic and digital technologies that could improve safety and efficiency. For instance, on display were robots and smart equipment that can perform unmanned mining, sparing miners from working in the deep and sometimes risky shafts.

Fenxi Huayi Industry, a company based in Jinzhong, displayed its long-distance concrete pumping and injecting equipment. According to the company, it is an industry-leading device to increase efficiency and reduce labor forces in the process of reinforcing shafts.

A variety of automatic pneumatic machines exhibited by Shanxi-based Burui Liante Coal Mining Machinery attracted the attention of many visitors.

"A prominent feature of the machines is that they are all driven by air, which is more efficient and safer than those powered by electricity," said Cui Xueyan, board chairman of the company.

"Coal-mine accidents are always accompanied with power failure. In this case, pneumatic machines can still work, helping workers respond to an emergency," Cui explained.

There was also a pneumatic machine for extracting hazardous gas in the shafts. Cui said the machine is connected to in-shaft monitoring devices and can work automatically if the content of hazardous gas increases.

"We secured orders for the machines from more than 100 buyers at the expo," Cui said. He added that the company will produce more smart and automatic equipment to meet the demand of coal industry upgrades.