People work on the Rujigou coalfield in the 1960s (COURTESY PHOTO)

Wang Xuezhen, an 85-year-old retired coal miner, still remembers the golden days of his life when he was seen as a legendary figure in Rujigou coal mining area in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in northwest China. Before machines were first introduced in 1986 in the areas, people with great strength like Wang played a key role in coal mining as manpower was the only way to extract and transport coal.

"In my 20s, I could carry two tons of coal from inside the mine during a work shift of around five hours every day," he told Beijing Review.

Coal mining in the Rujigou coalfield, which produces anthracite of high quality, dates back to the 1820s in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), making it one of the oldest coalfields in China. From 1950s to 1960s, several mines were established in turn in the coalfield, contributing greatly to China's industrial growth and coal export.

Working in the coal mining area since the age of 18, Wang has witnessed steady rise in the production volume of the coalfield with the use of machines and improvement of management. During the 1960s and 1970s, the production volume of a local mining zone rose from 6,000 tons to 21,000 tons in only several months with the efforts of Wang and his fellow workers, which was a miracle at that time. In recent decades, the total production volume of coal mines in operation in the field has rocketed, exceeding 1.2 million tons in the first half of this year.

After Wang retired, some of the coal mines have also taken a back seat after completing their missions. With the aim to improve the natural environment and cutting overcapacity, coal mines that were outdated or had suffered mineral resource depletion began to be shut down across China in recent years. Some coal mines in the Rujigou coalfield have been closed, with only Baijigou coal mine still in normal operation.

A helicopter sprinkles seeds above the Rujigou coalfield on July 30, 2019 (COURTESY PHOTO)

Since 2017, Rujigou Anthracite Company, a subsidiary of China-based CHN Energy which is the world's largest energy enterprise, has made steady efforts to restore the environment. In July this year, the company used helicopters to sprinkle seeds of drought-tolerant plants across the coalfield to increase local forest coverage.

According to Wang Baoming, chief engineer of the company, the quality of the air in the mountains has become much better than the past when workers needed to wear masks. Over 2,000 willows have been planted on the coalfield this year, helping improve the local environment significantly, and making the black mountains greener.

"Excessive mining in the past led to environmental pollution, while chaotic competition pushed coal prices overly low. After a cap on exploitation, profits of local coal mining and the natural environment have both improved," Wang Baoming told Beijing Review.

As he pointed out, afforestation will be a good start to enable the coalfield to achieve environmental restoration by itself.

Copyedited by Madhusudan Chaubey

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