Robots help ‘smart mines’ boost carbon production…

Bloomberg – In a remote corner of northern China, deep below, a monstrous machinery is at work. Two giant discs with dozens of metal cutouts start spinning on a solid wallDust and shiny black bits of coal scatter.

Zhang Luoxun, an engineer, watches everything from an airy office 1,000 feet up. cameras and interconnected sensors Through the underground 5G network they send Zhang and his accomplices on the surface, Real-time images and reports on all aspects of the minefrom stability inside the well to air formation.

Thanks to this technology, the owners of the Xiaobaodang mine They managed to reduce the number of underground workers and convince regulators of the need for expansion Its coal façade is 450 meters long, which is a record. These discs of seven feet in diameter each day cut through a small part of the foreground, and brought out about thirty-five thousand tons of coal, sufficient in theory to power Ireland.

“This is the most developed coal mining front in the country,” Zhang explained.

Xiaobaodang example is a An example of tireless leadership for the industry Coal in China, while many countries and investors distance themselves from the most polluting fossil fuel. According to the International Energy Agency, in 2022, the Asian country will allocate 79,000 million US dollars for coal production, while other countries on the planet will allocate 37,000 million dollars together.

China’s spending on coal is undoubtedly diminishing Compare your spending on renewablesWhich hit a record $164 billion last year. Officials said they expect coal to slowly shift from the country’s dominant energy source to a backup fuel as cheaper wind and solar power take up a bigger share.

But that still means years, maybe decades, of strong demand for coal. Director of the National Energy Administration, Zhang JianhuaEarlier this month, China’s coal was called the “ballast stone” in energy insurance. Beijing has pressured the country’s mining giants Production increased to record levels after a coal shortage led to widespread power shortages in late 2021. Coal production reduces the need to import more expensive liquefied natural gas, which rose in price last year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Nearly 200 billion yuan (29 billion US dollars) has been invested in Build a smart mine In China, Ren Lixin, deputy director general of the Coal Department of the New Energy Agency, said at a press conference on Thursday.

“Smart coal mines have played a major role in increasing coal production and ensuring supply in the past two years,” said Ren.

xiaobaodang It is owned by a state mining companyIt is the fifth largest coal producer in China Its production reached 230 million tons last year It generated record profits of 60 billion yuan ($8.7 billion). Leo. and rightDeputy general manager of Shaanxi Coal Industry Corporation, the listed unit to which the mine belongs.

The company is pouring some of that money into improvements at mines like Xiaobaodang and Hongliulin, located on the edge of the Ordos Desert.

Under the floor there is a file A labyrinth of tunnels and shafts that workers enter in boxcars and trucksdriving slowly for kilometers in a gentle slope.

The coal front itself is a long pit with black, shiny matter on all sides, filled with cool, moist air that smells like sedge plant. Broad yellow shears cut through the veins and the displaced fuel is sent on conveyor belts Through the processing equipment and finally out of the mine to the silo and freight station by rail.

Every two to three meters along the coal face are closed circuit cameras connected to 5G base stations provided by Huawei Technologies, which has partnered with the mines to automate their systems and this week facilitated a tour of the sites. Mining experts.

Only in Hongliulin, More than 2,700 underground mining equipment They are networked to transmit photos, videos and operational data to the surface instantly. Miners hold video calls with underground managers and can also scroll through social media during breaks.

Signs of investment in automation are everywhere: no longer needing humans to monitor electric substations or huge water pumps, or ceding that job to cartoon-headed sensors and robots slowly patrolling rooms, or hanging upside down from rails like aperture. xiaobaodang It is even experimenting with automated trucks to get workers in and out of the mine.

From a pilot program with 71 mines in 2020, China now It has about 570 “smart mines” Which uses technology to improve production at about 1.9 billion tons/year, about 42% of the country’s total, according to industry publication China Coal News.

Mining operators are looking to improve efficiencies and regulators are looking to improve safety and increase digitization, according to the Xu Jun, CTO of Huawei’s mining division. Automation can Save on labor costswhich is particularly important given the aging workforce in mining, and reducing accidents will lead to less downtime and higher production, he said.

Chinese regulators also favor sites that use sophisticated equipment to obtain approval, according to China Coal News.

“We view the mining industry as a piece of cake,” Xu said. “It’s an industry that technology has ignored for far too long.”

Yes good Mining safety has improved In China over the past decade as stricter safety regulations have been implemented and the government has shut down smaller operations, The country still recorded more than 600 deaths related to the activity last year. A landslide in February at a coal mine in Inner Mongolia left more than 50 miners dead or missing in one of the worst industrial accidents in modern history.

Hongliulin has invested hundreds of millions of yuan in systems that reduce the number of people on the site, according to Shi Chao Director of the Mine Intelligent Management Center. The site can Teams work with as few as six minerscompared to some traditional sites that require 20 people per team.

“We would like to eventually bring all our people to the surface,” Xi said.

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