Coal is a valuable non-renewable resource.
Although it is not as energy efficient as oil, coal is also a very important strategic resource for a country.
The coal seam of the first open-pit mine on the mainland is as thick as 55 meters and has been mined for 118 years.
So how is it now?
A witness to China's coal industry - Fushun West Open-pit Coal Mine
Located in the southwest of Liaoning Province, Fushun is one of the top ten heavy industrial cities on the mainland, known for its abundant coal resources, the largest of which is the West Open-pit Coal Mine.
The coal mining resources in western Fushun can be traced back to the Qing Dynasty.
At that time, the area was rich in coal resources and huge reserves, but because the Manchu rulers regarded Fushun as the land of dragons, they feared that mining coal would destroy the feng shui here and affect the country for a long time, so mining was strictly prohibited.
However, the Manchus established a state in the Fushun area, and if important people died, they would choose to build a mausoleum here, and this resource-rich coal mine was discovered but could not be used.
It was not until after the Sino-Japanese War, when the Qing government was forced to sign an unequal treaty that humiliated the country, had to pay huge reparations, and the treasury was empty, that it had to approve the mining of coal in western Fushun to raise military expenses.
In 1901, under the impetus of the prefect Wang Chengyao, the Qing government finally agreed to mine the coal mines in Fushun.
In order to mine this coal mine, Wang Chengyao raised 100,000 taels of silver, united with Russian capitalists to establish Huaxingli Company, and Russian industrialist Weng Shou established Fushun Coal Mining Company, preparing to jointly mine Fushun's coal.
But soon the two companies were completely occupied by the Russians.
After the end of the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, Japan defeated Russia and seized control of the three eastern provinces, and since then, Fushun's rich coal resources have become a mountain of gold and silver in the eyes of the Japanese.
In order to meet the needs of their own industrial development, the Japanese carried out large-scale crazy mining of coal mines in western Fushun.
During 40 years of looting, the Japanese forced the local people to work in the mines, plundering more than 80 million tons of high-quality coal from Fushun, from which they made astronomical profits.
The looted coal was not only used domestically in Japan, but also made huge profits by exporting it to Southeast Asia.
It was not until Japan's defeat and surrender in 1945 that New China regained ownership of the Fushun coal mine.
Later, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, due to the lack of domestic energy, coal was urgently needed to develop industry and support national construction, so the government carried out a new round of development and utilization of Fushun coal mine.
In the 50s of last century, the state invested more than 2 billion yuan in the construction of Fushun coal mine, a large number of mining equipment was introduced, and mining technology was improved.
Under a series of technological advances, the coal production of the Fushun West Open-pit Coal Mine has continued to increase, reaching an all-time high in 1962, with an annual output of 18.3 million tons.
You know, the reserves of Fushun West open-pit coal mine are very rich, the thickness of the coal seam is between 20-150 meters, the average thickness is 55 meters, is the thickest coal seam in China, this open-pit coal mine only needs to remove the surface cover, you can directly mine, no need to dig a mine, it can be said that the mining cost is very low.
Coal in Fushun: from peak to sinking
The West Open-pit Mine is rich in high-quality coal resources, which is the key to supporting the industrial development of Fushun.
In 1901, the West Open-pit Coal Mine officially began mining, and the mining method at that time was relatively primitive, mainly relying on manual and simple mechanical equipment for open-pit mining.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the coal industry in Fushun rose rapidly, and the output of the West Open-pit Coal Mine also increased year by year.
In order to pursue higher mining efficiency, Fushun introduced advanced mechanized mining equipment from abroad, so that the output reached a peak of 50,000 tons per day in 1962.
After more than 60 years of mining, the West Open-pit Coal Mine has provided sufficient and cheap power fuel for Fushun, driving the city's heavy industry boom.
In the 50s of the 20th century, relying on the advantages of coal resources, Fushun leapt to the forefront of the mainland's industrial output value, and many important industrial products were pioneered by Fushun, such as the first ton of oil shale crude oil and the first excavator.
Advanced metallurgical and mechanical industries also sprouted here, Fushun's steel output ranked first in the country, and in 1954, Fushun was also promoted to a provincial municipality, and the first tram was born here.
It can be said that without the contribution of the West Open-pit Mine, it is difficult to imagine that New China's heavy industry can have such rapid development.
However, continued overexploitation has also cost Fushun dearly.
In the mid-80s, the two main mines of the West Open-pit Coal Mine, Longfeng Mine and Shengli Mine, were closed successively due to resource depletion, and the huge void formed by the West Open-pit Mine gradually expanded, reaching an astonishing depth of more than 400 meters, equivalent to the height of 140 floors, covering an area of more than 10 square kilometers, which can be called the largest artificial open-pit in Asia.
The huge mine pit has caused serious damage to the ecological environment of Fushun, and the vegetation coverage has dropped significantly, resulting in frequent soil erosion and debris flow disasters, and the threat of displacement of residential foundations and ground collapse has become increasingly serious, which also seriously affects the safety of residents' lives and property.
In order to control the water accumulation in the ground, it needs to invest a huge amount of money to discharge more than 20 million cubic meters of water every year.
With the gradual depletion of coal resources, Fushun's industrial advantages are no longer there, and the phenomenon of brain drain has become very serious.
In 2019, when resources were basically exhausted, the Fushun West open-pit mine officially stopped mining, ending its 118-year history.
The transformation of the first coal mine to the first "sinkhole"
From 1905 until its closure in 2019, the Fushun West open-pit coal mine mined a total of 280 million tons of high-quality thermal coal and 530 million tons of oil carrier shale.
Among them, the maximum annual output reached 8.05 million tons, setting a record for the largest single well capacity of a coal mine in the world at that time.
Fushun Coal Mine has abundant coal resources, with an age of 200 million years and a total reserve of up to 10 billion tons, which supports the 119-year mining history of Fushun West Open-pit Mine.
However, while bringing splendor to the land, the overexploitation of the West Coal Mine is also silently changing the local ecological environment.
A large amount of dust accumulated over the years has seriously polluted the local air, and the dust content is as high as 8-15 milligrams per cubic meter, which is 5-10 times the national standard, which brings serious harm to the health of the majority of miners, and many miners have respiratory diseases and lung diseases, and the prevalence is much higher than that of other industries.
According to statistics, 2.2 million square meters of surrounding land have been abandoned and no crops can be grown.
With the mining method of "hollowing out mountains and consuming mountains", hundreds of millions of huge cavities have formed underground, and the geological environment has become extremely fragile.
Surface collapse and frequent mudslides not only endanger the lives and property of nearby residents, but also cause a large number of residents to move out of the country.
The underground is even more miserable, and the long-term blind mining has led to the deeper and deeper pit, eventually forming a super large sinkhole with a diameter of 2 kilometers and a depth of 424 meters! This also makes Fushun Coal Mine the largest artificial sinkhole in China and even Asia.
This is undoubtedly an irreparable wound caused by mining to the local ecological environment. In 2019, after 118 years, Fushun West Coal Mine finally completed its historical mission and officially announced its closure.
In order to deal with these consequences, the state and the Fushun municipal government have taken a series of measures, first by backfilling the huge pit to improve geological safety, but by backfilling with tailings sand from adjacent oil shale, which has saved costs and gradually filled the underground cavities in the mining area.
Not only that, the relevant departments have also carried out large-scale afforestation in the mining area, planted nearly 800,000 trees, and built several ecological parks to improve the environment.
While celebrating history, the government also established a coal mine museum in the mining area, which was included in the national industrial heritage protection list.
The museum records the history of the development of Fushun coal industry to commemorate the outstanding contribution of Fushun West Open-pit Coal Mine to the country's industrialization process.
It can be said that the development process of Fushun West open-pit coal mine is a microcosm of the development of China's modern coal industry.
On the road of energy structure transformation, we must not forget the great contribution that coal has made to the national economy, but also face up to the profound lessons brought by long-term over-exploitation to the ecological environment.
While using coal resources, we must pay more attention to the rational use of resources and the sustainable development of the environment, only in this way can we leave a livable home for future generations, and also inherit this glorious but imperfect industrial development history.
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