TAIYUAN, July 23 (Xinhua) -- In the depths of Malan coal pit in north China's Shanxi province, the future of the age-old industry long associated with soot and sweat is being reinvented by the power of algorithms.
Dressed in neat work clothes, foreman Hao Yirui stood in front of an intelligent control screen above the shaft, monitoring in real time as automated machines carried out tasks deep in the mining face.
With the press of a button, a massive coal mining machine 300 meters underground automatically adjusted its cutting speed, height and direction. The drum then spun into action, slicing through coal with precision as it poured out and was steadily conveyed to the surface.
Instead of workers in helmets and headlamps, robotic patrol machines now move slowly along preset tracks, scanning equipment operation in a full 360 degrees. The once-familiar thud of pickaxes has been replaced by the quiet hum of servers.
Shanxi is one of China's major coal-producing regions, akin to the Appalachian coal region in the United States. Over the past decade or more, as China has tightened production safety regulations to curb deadly accidents, coal mines here have been either shut down or driven to undergo technological transformation.
Consequently, a technological revolution is unfolding in an industry once known for backbreaking labor and hazardous conditions, marking an unexpected fusion of ancient resources with modern automation.
The AI-enabled transformation is palpable at Malan, a flagship mine operated by state-owned Shanxi Coking Coal Group.
"In the past, we relied on manual monitoring," said Hao. "Today, AI-driven systems for early warnings and surveillance have largely replaced human guards."
In the production command center where Hao works, a large display screen shows real-time footage and data from the mine's various production operations.
Meng Qingcai, an engineer at Malan Mine, described unknown geological structures down in the pit as "hidden landmines" that pose a constant threat to safe production. "A precise identification is the 'decoder' for coal mine safety," Meng said.
Li Bo, a miner who began as a support worker and is now a patrol worker, recalled, "Previously, I had to run back and forth constantly adjusting the supports while following the coal mining machine. It was utterly exhausting."
"With the hydraulic support auto-follow system, I just supervise the machine's operations now. It's safer and less tiring," Li added.
Moreover, AI-powered sensors mounted on mining machines enable finer detection of coal seam thickness and geological structures. This has significantly reduced the impurity content in raw coal and effectively improved coal quality.
"Our workforce is down by 40 percent, yet the production efficiency has soared, with output per shift increasing by over 60 percent compared to traditional coal mining," Hao said.
So far, Malan Mine has established nine intelligent working faces. Shanxi now has 268 intelligent coal mines, ranking it among the top in the nation. Advanced coal production capacity accounts for 83 percent of the province's total.
According to the 2025 provincial government work report, Shanxi plans to build 130 new intelligent coal mines. Enditem
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