There are more than 800 intelligent mining faces in mines across the country

In the past, miners worked hundreds of meters underground, facing intense labor and harsh working conditions, as well as dangers like flooding. Now, remote operations can be achieved with the touch of a button or a single command. Behind these changes lies the rapid progress of smart mine construction in my country. At the Ministry of Emergency Management's regular press conference on the 14th, Sun Qingguo, Director of the Safety Basics Department of the State Administration of Mine Safety, presented the latest progress in smart mine construction.

The number is rapidly increasing. Currently, there are 813 smart mining and excavation faces nationwide, a 65% increase compared to 2020. Among them, there are 477 coal mining faces, a 43% increase compared to 2020, and 336 tunneling faces, a 109% increase compared to 2020. Twenty-nine types of coal mining robots are already in use at over 370 mine sites.

Innovation is accelerating. China's first full-face rectangular intelligent tunnel boring machine was successfully developed; an advanced 10-meter high mining height intelligent hydraulic support was independently developed; intelligent operating systems for underground water exploration and drainage were gradually put into use; and the number of unmanned vehicles in open-pit coal mines reached 146... A number of intelligent mining technologies have made new progress.

More robust policy support is being provided. The State Administration of Work Safety, in conjunction with relevant departments, has issued policies such as the "Guidelines for Intelligent Coal Mine Construction (2021 Edition)" and the "14th Five-Year Plan for the Development of the Robotics Industry" to promote the construction of more intelligent mines. Fourteen provinces, including Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Shandong, Henan, and Shaanxi, have also issued documents providing policy, funding, and project support for intelligent mine construction.

Standards are being increasingly refined. The State Administration of Work Safety has promoted the development of 92 relevant standards, including those for intelligent control systems and production support systems. It has also guided the establishment of the Mining Industry Group of the National Standardization Committee's Big Data Standards Working Group and organized the compilation of the "Intelligent Mine Data Fusion and Sharing Specifications," further improving the intelligent mining standards system.

Furthermore, supervision is becoming more efficient. "We have vigorously promoted information technology development, connecting all 2,611 coal mines operating normally across the country to the coal mine safety risk monitoring and early warning system, achieving full coverage of coal mine safety risk monitoring and perception data through a single network," said Wang Duanwu, Director of the Regulations and Technology Department of the State Administration of Work Safety.

In practice, promoting the development of smart mines has effectively helped improve safety production and supply security in the mining sector. "From January to February this year, the number of mining accidents nationwide decreased by 46.8%. In 2021, the number of mining accidents and the number of deaths decreased by 16% and 12.7% year-on-year, respectively, and the death rate per million tons of coal produced in coal mines reached a record low. It is worth noting that national coal production increased, with a year-on-year increase of 5.7%," said Zhang Xin, Deputy Director of the State Administration of Work Safety.

The revised "Coal Mine Safety Regulations" will officially take effect on April 1st of this year. Wang Duanwu explained that this is a very important departmental regulation in the field of coal mine safety, adding requirements for actively promoting automated and intelligent mining in coal mines. "We will continue to actively support the development of smart mines and persist in using technology to promote high-quality development of coal mines." (People's Daily)