Sichuan coal: perseverance and courage forward

The coal industry started in the period of the war of resistance against Japan and developed in the "three line construction" period. It has undergone brilliant reforms and has gone through a period of deepening and reform, tackling difficulties and getting rid of difficulties and transformation and development. It has made indelible contributions to the development of the energy industry and the national economic construction.

In 1964, the state concentrated human, material and financial resources to organize and implement the "three-line construction", with the aim of establishing a relatively complete rear industrial system in the deep areas, i.e. in the southwest and northwest regions.

In the "three line construction" period, the builders from all sides of the motherland have built up state-owned key coal enterprises mainly based on China, Guangwang, Panzhihua, hibiscus, Guangning and bamboos, and laid the foundation for the development of the coal industry.

Sichuan coal mine has two major characteristics. One is the complicated coal seam occurrence conditions, and the two is the large number of small coal mines. Coal seam is characterized by karst, fold and fracture structure, fragile roof and floor, large deformation of coal body, so gas, water permeability and roof accidents are easy to occur. At present, there are 45 coal and gas outburst mines, 123 high gas mines and 246 low gas mines in 414 mines in the province. Among 414 mines, 36 mines have complex hydrogeological types and 31 mines are prone to spontaneous combustion and spontaneous combustion. In addition, the number of small coal mines is large. At present, the coal production capacity of the province is 78.96 million tons per year, and the mechanization rate of the province's coal mines is less than 50%.

Therefore, the history of the development of Sichuan's coal industry is also a history of the struggle between Sichuan people and geological disasters. According to the retired veteran cadres of the Coal Mining Bureau compiled by the coal industry, the number of accidents, deaths and millions of tons of coal mines in 1949 to 2005 showed a tortuous and wavy development. After 2006, the three indicators have been declining for 13 consecutive years. Since the eighteen largest party, the number of coal mines in Sichuan has decreased from more than 1300 in 2012 to 414 in 2018. The number of accidents and deaths has dropped from 119 in 2012 and 200 to 32 in 2018 and 40 people, respectively, by 73.1% and 80% respectively.

Jia Yang coal mine, located in the city of Ba County, the town of Ba Gou, from 55 km away, Min River, convenient transportation. The Bashi Railway, built in 1958, has a total length of 19.8 kilometers, a gauge of 762 mm, six tunnels (905 meters) and 109 arcs. Known as the "living fossil of the industrial revolution", the Jia Yang mini train is the only passenger railway narrow gauge steam train in China and even the whole world. The tourists who come to investigate and experience the "master train" are in an endless stream. The development and construction of the Jia Yang National Mine Park, which is based on the "Jia Yang mini train" and "Ba Gou old mine", has been gradually developed, forming a mine culture with the characteristics of Jia Yang, attracting many tourists from home and abroad for sightseeing.

"Jiayang Coal Mine, born of the War of Resistance Against Japan, has a profound cultural history." Talking about the history of Jia Yang colliery, Zhong Weiqi, chairman of the former trade union of Sichuan Jia Yang Refco Group Ltd, is very familiar. He is the second generation of the standard Jiayang Coal Mine. His father, 89-year-old Zhong Ziheng, was the first generation of miners in Jiayang Coal Mine. His family history is the living history of Jiayang Coal Mine.

Turned to the album, and Zhong Ziheng recalls that Jia Yang coal mine was founded in the 1938 war of resistance against Japan. It was one of the 4 strategic coal mines operated by Kuomintang in the war of resistance against Japan. Originally known as "Jia Yang coal mine", it was one of the early Sino British joint ventures, founded by Weng Wen Hao and Sun Yueqi, the Minister of national economy, who was responsible for industrial production and economic development in China during the war of resistance against Japan. At that time, the mine had the most advanced mining technology. As a military coal, the coal mined contributed to the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan. After the liberation, the mine was renamed the "406 coal mine" of the central ministry and was renamed "Jia Yang coal mine" in 1955. Jia Yang coal mine is not only in the leading position of the management of the national coal enterprises, the technological innovation of thin coal seam mining, and the safety management of high gas, but also has made important contributions to the development of many new coal mines. The most memorable Zhong Zi Heng was the 19.2 km of the Ba Shi Railway built in Jiyang coal mine, which moved from shoulder to hand to push the chicken into a train. The railway solved the problem of coal transportation at that time and became the opportunity for transformation of Jiyang coal mine.

In the early 90s of last century, the quality coal in Jia Yang coal mine was exhausted, and the poor quality coal with high ash content and low calorific value was not competitive in the market. However, the Kyang people are indomitable, and the coal can not be built, so as to build the pit power plant; the power plant is not good enough, and there are narrow gauge steam trains.

Zhong Weiqi recalled that Jiayang Group organized a number of personnel to inspect 18 national mining parks and museums, learning from construction and management experience. They hired experts from China University of Mining and Technology to carry out professional planning and completed the feasibility study and master plan of national mine parks and green mines. In June 2007, the Sichuan provincial government designated the "Jia Yang mini train and barshi narrow gauge railway" as the provincial key cultural relic protection unit, and in 2008, the old mining area was closed.