Recently, the Technology and Demonstration Project of the Ecological Protection and Restoration Project for Large Open-Pit Mines in the Northern Sand-Belt commenced construction at the 1300 platform of the in-pit dump at the Heidaigou Open-Pit Coal Mine of Zhuneng Group, a subsidiary of China Shenhua. This marks the project's official entering into the critical phase of technology integration and on-site validation.
Focusing on three major research areas of three-dimensional water conservation, soil formation and activation, and systematic restoration, it will integrate and demonstrate five key technological achievements, namely key technologies for atmospheric water condensation and precipitation accumulation in open-pit mining areas, technology for activating and modifying associated mineral resources and artificial soil formation, technology for preparing water-retaining and fertility-enhancing soil conditioners using multiple solid wastes, technology for fine reconfiguration and maturation of the living soil layer on dump sites, and combined restoration technology involving bacteria, algae (moss), and vegetation (grasses, shrubs, trees) for dump sites. The work encompasses 17 specific tasks, such as experiments on mineral activation and artificial soil formation, vegetation planting and maintenance, and grid-based flow control engineering. Construction of the demonstration project is scheduled for completion by the end of the year.
The project will establish a 400-hectare integrated ecological protection and restoration demonstration zone, aiming to reduce the impact of open-pit mining on the surface ecological environment by over 50%. Within the geomorphic reshaping area, soil erosion is expected to decrease by more than 30%, and rainwater/condensation water retention in the restoration area is projected to exceed 75%. Artificial irrigation for trees and shrubs will be required for no more than two years, and the organic matter content of the living soil layer will be increased to over 1%. Plant diversity is targeted to be comparable to the reference ecosystem, allowing the reconstructed ecosystem to achieve self-sustainability while reducing ecological restoration costs by 25%.
Officially established in December 2023, this project aims to uncover the mechanisms behind ecological degradation and self-sustaining restoration in large open-pit mines in the northern sand-belt. The goal is to develop a comprehensive technology system for ecological damage reduction, protection, and restoration in such environments, and to systematically address "water-soil-vegetation" ecological factors. The project aligns corporate needs with the national direction for ecological civilization construction, and brings together 14 national-level research platforms in fields such as water resource protection and utilization in coal mining, and forest tree genetics and breeding, forming a cross-regional, cross-industry, and interdisciplinary industry-academia-research-application collaborative team.
The commencement of this project represents a crucial step in translating the research outcomes of this National Key R&D Program into practical applications. The project's results will promote the establishment of ecologically protective coal bases, serve as a significant ecological security barrier for the northern region, and provide a low-cost, high-efficiency, replicable, and scalable demonstration model for the ecological protection and restoration of large open-pit mines in China's northern sand-belt, while offering robust sci-tech support for large-scale development in major coal-producing areas, and balancing energy security with regional ecological safety.
