RECENT BASIC CONSTRUCTION AND TECHNICAL REVOLUTION IN CHINESE COAL MINING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-04546A003100060023-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 13, 2006
• Sequence Number: 23
• Publication Date: March 1, 1966
• Content Type: REPORT

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Photos & Features of Chinese Industry, No. 63, 1-March 19.66.
RECENT BASIC CONiTRUCTION AND TECHNICAL
REVOLUTION. IN CHINESE COAL MINING,.
Following is a translation of an unsigned article in the
apanese-language semimonthly publication of the A i a Tsushin
Sha (Asia News Service), Chugoku Sangyo Shashin Tsushin Photos.
and Features on Chinese Industry )v No. 63, 1 March 1966.7
At the invitation of the Japan-China Trade Promotion Association,
a Chinese coal delegation will soon. come to Japan. Items in which this
delegation, is interested are (1) mining techniques-and machinery, (2)
technical exchange concerning coal mine construction, vertical shaft
construction, and waterproof construction, and (3) coal-dressing tech-
nology and equipment, and centered on these, the plan is said to be to
inspect Japan's coal mines and mining machinery plants. Therefore, on
this occasion in this paper, let us explore new trends in such things:
as China's most recent coal-mining construction, technology, and
equipment.
Basic construction of coal mines in China has steadily advanced,
and each year new pits are completed and put into production, and from.
the end of last year into this year, news of the beginning of coal
production at new pits has been reported several times. If those are
listed, they are as follows.
Kirin Province Tunghua Mining Affairs Bureau New Pit - All pro-
duction processes at this pit are mechanized from coal mining to carry-
ing away, and it can produce 450,000 tons of coal per year (New China
News Agency Changchun dispatch, 7 January 1966).
Shansi Province Yangchuan Peitoutsui Ssuchih Coal Mine New Pit -
The annual production capacity of this pit is 450,000 tons, and pro-
duction processes are all mechanized from coal mining to transportation.
Also, a coal-dressing plant is attached to the pit (New China News Agency
Taiyuan dispatch, 27 December 1965).
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Shansi Province Fenkao Coal Field Shuiyu Pit - This is a modern
large-sized pit with an annual production capacity of 900,000 tons:of
basic coal. It was designed by China itself and the, mechanized equip-
ment is completely domestically produced. The workers who built this,
large-sized pit carried out the principle throughout the entire con-
struction process of firmly combining revolutionary enthusiasm with a
scientific attitude, and greatly breaking through the framework of
foreign dogma and convention, they. conducted technical revolution and
scientific experimentation, aiming for first-rate quality. Strict
inspection has proved that the quality of drift work at this pit as
well as transportation facilities, machine-and electrical equipment,
ventilation and drainage facilities, and construction installation
works all reached specified standards (New China News Agency Taiyuan
dispatch, 11 February 1966).
Anhwei Province Huaipei Mining District Huanghouyao Pit - This
its a pit of quite high mechanization with an annual production of
600,000 tons of basic coal and it was designed and put into operation
by the Huatung Coal Industry Company Basic Construction Company. All
machine equipment of the pit was manufactured by related plants in
China (New China News Agency Hofei dispatch, 17 January 1966).
Szechwan Province Several Tens of Small-Sized Coal Mine Construc-
tions - New Construction of 57 small coal mines and technical recon-
struction of 29 is being advanced in Szechwan Province at present.
When these are completely in operation, an annual production of more
than 3,300,000 tons of coal will be possible, which is approximately
half of the annual amount of coal produced at present in the Szechwan
district coal mines. Most of these small coal mines.. are distributed
in,the central part of Szechwan which has little fuel as well as along
rail lines of comparatively convenient transport and on both banks of
rivers, These districts are Szechwan Province's food and economic
products producing areas and are districts in which handicrafts,
small chemical fertilizer plants, small sugar refineries, and other
plants processing secondary agricultural products are relatively con-
centrated, Heretofore, these districts have depended on large and
medium-sized mines and other coal-mining regions for all of their coal
supply? When these small coal mines are completed, this situation will
gradually change and it will become possible to obtain the coal supply
locally.
AP seen: above, in China's coal mines, even now new pits: are
being put into production one after the other, and it presents a re-
markable contrast to Japan and Western countries where they are being
closed one after the other with coal as a declining industry, and
technical innovations are steadily being advanced even in old coal
mines which are being exploited, Below, let us consider recent prin-
cipal coal-mine technical innovations.
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Fouhsin Haiohou Open-Pit Coal Mine Coal-Washing Plant Heavy,
Fluid Coal-Dressing Method
This is said to*be a coal-dressing method greatly superior to
former human coal-dressing methods, and the.operation process is to
first mix together iron filings and water and make a suspension of a
certain specific gravity, and putting this in the ore separator, from.
that passes coal mixed with butter. The specific gravity of the sus-
pension is between the specific gravity of coal and butter, and when
the coal passes through the ore separator, it floats up, and after it
is screened and dehydrated it is put in coal cars. When the butter
passes through. the ore separator it naturally settles, and after it has,
been dehydrated with the dehydration screen, it is discarded in the
butter cars.
This coal-dressing method is exceptionally superior to human
dressing methods. In the case of previous human coal-dressing, workers
stand on both sides of the conveyor belt and sort out the butter, and
one person must sort out from 10 to 13 tons in one shift, work intensity
being great, and also, since the lumps of coal strike against each other
on the belt., coal dust rises in the room, which is also bad for the
health of workers. After adopting the heavy fluid coal-dressing method,
.human coal dressing was completely taken over by machine, and moreover,
efficiency of coal dressing greatly increased from the time of manual
labor and butter content of the carefully selected coal approaches zero:,.
and also the coal content of the butter is lowered from the former 12
parts per thousand to 3 parts per thousand.
This heavy fluid coal dressing method which was adopted, by the..
Haichou Open-Pit Coal Mine was successfully experimented upon with assist.
ance of the Peking Mining College.
Fushun Coal Mine Hydraulic Hoisting System
At the Fushun Coal Mine, which is China's: largest coal mine, a.,
new hydraulic hoisting system has been introduced which is believed to
be quite important for deep-strata coal mining. Compared with the wiricli
multi-stage hoisting system which was heretofore adopted by the same.,
mine, the new hoisting system can reduce personnel by 50 percent, can
greatly reduce labor intensity of workers, and can transport 100 tons
of coal to the surface per hour from a pit 600 meters. below the ground.
This new hoisting system is comprised of such things as a main pump,
suction pipes, coal removal pipes, and tank-type coaling machines, and
meter can be carried up to the surface from a pit bottom of a depth of.
600 meters. This also. performs the work of.a coal-dressing machine,
and when the coal is brought out from the pit, the lumps of coal are
automatically separated from the butter, the large lumps of coal coming
up first, and next are brought up medium and small lumps of. coal, and
finally, the butter and coal mud are also brought to the surface.
This hydraulic hoisting system was successfully researched and
experimented with jointly by the Fushun Mining Affairs Bureau and the,
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Tangshan Coal Scientific Research Institute as well as related manu-
facturing departments. Also, technicians and workers of the.Fushun
Coal Mine created a-flexible coal conveyor which can be operated by
means of water power, and this slack coal conveyor can pull up close
d is said to be able to carry twice as much as
l fa
ce an
to the coa
ordinary conveyors, and this equipment is also seen as a powerful.link:
st
m
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ti
aa
h
i
y
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in raising the efficiency of the hydraulic
Rope-Mounted-Type Belt Conveyor Manufactured at
ftuainan. and Heavy Model Flexible Scraper Conveyor Manu-
factured at Chiangchiakou
In coal transportation equipment, new belt. conveyors have been..
s
f th
e
o
ilines One o
manufactured and are being used in varous coa m. b
the T411aanfar
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ype ell
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-
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s sue i ope-
nt in cooperation with the Peking Pining College
Pl
hi
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nery
Mining Mac
and the Coal Scientific Research Institute Shanghai Coal Mine Machinery.,
Research Institute. The structure of this conveyor is simple, and-the
tion and moving are both convenient, adjust-
ll
t
i
ns
a
a
belt wheels and
ments can be quickly made, and maintenance care does not require much
labor., Having been experimentally used on the ground' at the.Iluainafl
of this new conveyor has been demonstrated to be good. The belt used.,
00
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l
3
..coa
in this is 800 millimeters wide and can carry 350 tons o
and it is said to remarkably increase transport,
one hour
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capability as compared with conveyors presently widely' used-near coal
Another new-model conveyor is the heavy-model.f:!exib.le~scraper',
Machinery Plant. The greater part of those used previously in. China
h
d
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a
: these
at coal mine faces were inflexible scraper conveyors, and
defects such as that the amount of transported coal was small,. and
ed and troublesome to move. 'NNLis new flexible.
dama
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y
e eas
ey we
t
conveyor was used at the coal face of the Kailuan Coal dine Fanlochuang ''
of the
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n
Chi-
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pit. in the fall of last year, and Chief Engineer Yin
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conveyor is great, it is strong and durable, troubles.ars few and the
lity of design and construction are quite high,' The'.Changchiakou
u
q
a
Coal Mine Machinery Plant has already entered. into. quantity production
of. this conveyor.
Tatung Coal Mine Convenient Cutter-Loader
Coal Mine is the most highly mechanized. coal ;mine in
Tatun
Th
g
e
261 items of technical innavation'propo.sed.by workers.
. Chi
Last year
,
na
, and technicians of the mine.-we re put into use, all of theta being slated::'
u
tter
tb reduction of physical labor, and one of those, the convenient c
loader which was put into use last year and was devised by workers, has
Cott Miaae
at
e
f
0
ung
T
th
been proved to be very effective.in all pits. o
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This cutter-loader advances., at the rate of 120 to 180.meters per. hour.
'
d pit atry
At the Meiyukou coal pit which is the most highly_mechanize
face, They are' only assigned to the cutter-loader, and' the: cutter-.
loader automatically mines the:. coal and loads the coal on.'..the conveyor.
Thus, the entire work at the Meiyukou -pit, excepting the work-of timber-
ing, is mechanized, and at the entire Tatung Coal Nine,, 80 per of
coal mining operations are mechanized.:
Pingtingshan Coal mine ;signal Surveillance Board and'.I;mail
Sized Mixer for Use Within the Mine
At the Honan Province Pingtingshan No. 4 Mine,.a'.signal sur-
veillance board is used. The appearance of this important technical
innovation from the point of view of coal mine production'.supervision
has. greatly raised the level of superintendence operations at. the Ping-
tingshan No. 4 Mine, This signal surveillance board was successfully
manufactured by eight graduates of the Peking Mining College specialize
ing in mining machinery and electricity when they did practical work
at the Pingtingshan No. 4 Mine together with workers.
Mine command personnel of the Pingtingshan Coal Mine have here-
tofore, for the purpose of understanding and controlling the production
situation, depended completely on telephone communication'.with such
things as cave rooms in the mine, workshops, coal mining districts,'and
coal faces, and the command personnel were extremely busy with telephone,
calls, records, and replies. At the same time, in order to grasp the
overall production situation it was necessary to depend on many dia-
grams, However now, with use of the signal surveillance board, command
personnel can understand and grasp the facilities operation situation
and the general production situation both inside and outside the mine
by means of the indications of signal lights, electric clocks, and
electric bells, and using portable telephones, they can at all times
control transportation within and without the mine and can make command
operations more timely and correct, and make production more safe.
At the Pingtingshan Coal I-line, also in shaft construction, a
small-sized convenient tool - a mixer for use inside the mine - is used,
and is regarded highly by the coal industry. This is a mechanization
of mortar mixing which had heretofore depended completely on physical
labor, and as the result of more than three months of on-the-spot
experimentation, its efficiency is considered to be good. Formerly,
10 to 15 minutes were required for two persons to mix one bag of cement,
but this machine is operated by one person and can mix it in three to
four minutes. Labor intensity of workers is greatly reduced, the quality
of mortar increases, and loss of cement is lessened.
This mortar mixer for use inside the mine was successfully trial-
manufactured by workers and technicians together with strong support of
the mine leadership and with guidance of'instructors at the time 1965
graduates of the Peking Mining College specializing in coal mine con-
struction did their graduation projects. The coal-mining industry
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attaches much importance to the completion of the mortar mixer for use
inside mines, and it has already begun to be disseminated to other
coal mines.
New-Model Air Compressor for Coal Mine Use Manufactured in
Shenyang -
Manufacture by the Shenyang Air Compressor Plant of a new-model
air compressor used in coal mines will also be noted. This compressor
was produced for the first time in China and was designed and manufac-
tured on the basis of requirements of the Chinese coal industry and
conditions of use in the mines. Previously, compressors used in Chinese
coal mines were voluminous and were therefore generally placed outside
outside the mine, but the structure of this new-model air compressor is
small and well-made and very convenient in installation, operation, and
movement. When compressed air is sent by it, the pipe which was pre-
viously 1,000 to 2,000, meters can be shortened to about 100 meters.
For the purpose of conforming to special requirements of production
within the mines, this compressor has various kinds of automatic
control and safety equipment and it automatically stops when water or
oil are lacking or when the temperature of the machine rises above a
prescribed amount.
Automatic Equipment for Preventing Electric Leakage Accidents
in Mines -- High-Voltage Electric Leakage Relay
When high-voltage cables inside a. coal mine leak electricity,
explosion accidents of gas or coal dust occur, and the high-voltage
electric leakage relay which is automatic equipment which can effectively
prevent these accidents has been manufactured at the Acheng Relay Plant
in Heilungkiang Province. This is a protective relay using a semi-
conductor technique, and having been experimentally used inside the
Anhwei Province Huainan Coal Nine, it has been demonstrated that its
effectiveness is'good. In ,the experimentation process in this mine,
five high-voltage cable electric leakages occurred, and the automatic
equipment very responsively out off the power source and prevented an
accident in the mine. Thus, many of the coal mine workers danced for
joy and said that since the state manufactured such wonderful new equip-
ment, work in the mine had become safer.
Insulated monitors had previously been used in Chinese coal mines
in control of high-voltage electric leakage. With this equipment, when
electric leakage occurred in any line alarms were simultaneously sounded,
and when at that time it was tried to eliminate the difficulty, they
would inspect cables one by one or turn on the oil switches one by one
and had to seek the trouble point by the method of complete power stoppage.
However, when the newly-made high-voltage electric leakage relay is used,
wherever the electric leakage occurs, the power source of that place is
immediately controlled and other cables work as before. In the process
of designing and trial-manufacturing this high-voltage electric leakage
relay, the Acheng Relay Plant gained the cooperation of the Shenyang .
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Coal Mine Design Institute, the Hofei Industrial University, as well
as coal mines of Hokang, Fushun, and Huainan.
High-Multiplying Air Machine Foam Fire-Extinguishing Method
In the field of preventing disastrous accidents in coal mines,
the successful test of a high-multiplying air machine foam fire-exting-
uishing method at the end of more than six years of endeavor at the
no. 2 laboratory of the Fushun Coal Research Institute will be noted.
Large fires are apt to break out in coal mines, and when these cannot
be put out, generally the method has been used of sealing off the fire
area, but when this high-multiplying air machine foam fire-extinguishing
method'is used, fire-fighting personnel can conduct fire-fighting from
a. safe position several tens of meters to 100 meters away from the fire
location, and under certain conditions the speed of putting out the
fire is fast, the power is great, and effectiveness good. Research
of this new technique of fire-fighting was begun in 1958, the first
step of the research being to select a foam material of good efficiency.
At the end of three to four years of endeavor, more than 20 kinds of
foam raw materials were gathered from the entire country, and from these,
foam materials of low price, good efficiency, and high water content were
selected and mixed. The researchers continuously endeavored, and made
a revolving-leaf-type foam nozzle and a plumb-shape string firing net.
When this foam ejector is used, the amount of foam produced in one
minute reaches more than 100 cubic meters.
In 1964, the Pingtingshan Mining Affairs Bureau rescue group,
in practice within the mine, conducted tests of foam ejection and mock
fire extinguishing, and as a result it was proved that the high-multi-
plying foam has great effectiveness in mine timber fires, coal wall fires,
oil fires in rooms within the mine, and single-shaft fires. Its strong
point is said to be that its force is great, and within 20 to 30 minutes
the force of the fire is restrained and the source of the fire exting-
uished, and fire-fighting personnel can promptly enter the fire area
and put out the embers. This fire-extinguishing technique has already
been used by rescue groups-of mining affairs bureaus in such places as.
Pingtingshan, Fouhsin, and Fushun, and it is said that the principal
present defect of this fire-fighting technique is that the set equipment
is quite heavy.
All-Country Rock Dust Elimination Meeting
Above have been given technical innovations of the Chinese coal
industry reported last year and this year,. and some of the things in
which emphasis has probably been placed in these technical innovations.
are prevention of coal mine disasters, lessening of the labor'of workerQ,,
and preservation of health. It is noted in this regard that recently,
an all-country meeting was held at Wuhan concerning measures to reduce
rock dust in mines, This meeting was held under the sponsorship of the
Chinese Metal Association, and 120 representatives including workers,
specialists, scholars, scientists, and engineers from 22 provinces and.
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cities of the entire country participated, and subjects were. taken up
such as vertical shaft ventilating equipment and its automation,
purification and filtration of air, rook dust measuring equipment,
and other measures for protecting the health of coal mine workers.
As was brought out in this meeting, at present in China in the
fields of mechanization and automation of ventilation as well as equip:"
ment for preventing rook dust, improvements are being conducted in
the various kinds of drills attached to hydrogen bomb explosion venti-
lating equipment and moist and dry-type dust suction equipment. Also,-
the filter membrane rock dust measuring technique which is the world's
latest technique has been adopted. In addition, it is said.that the
most advanced photoelectric-type as well as electrostatic-type rock
dust measuring equipment is at present being tested, and that research
into electrical rock dust elimination techniques is also being advanced.
'6899
DC-12239
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