Yunnan Coal Miner Enhong Secures Provincial Green Mine Status After Emissions and Water Upgrades

Yunnan Enhong Coal Industry, a wholly owned subsidiary of Yunnan Energy Investment Group, has passed the 2026 first-half provincial green mine selection, according to the Yunnan Provincial Department of Natural Resources. The department published the list of selected mines, the Yunnan Provincial State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission said on its website on 13 October.

The designation follows a series of measures at the Qujing-based colliery spanning dust control, ecological restoration, methane utilisation and intelligent mining. Xinhua Finance reported on 10 October that Enhong operates a fully enclosed coal storage, transfer and loading system, keeping dust within the enclosed circuit from stockpile to wagon.

Revegetation has covered all plantable areas on the site, with more than 15,000 seedlings planted and over 140 mu (about 9.3 hectares) of land reclaimed, the same outlet said. Waste-rock dumps left by earlier mining have been regraded and planted.

The mine has retired its coal-fired boilers and commissioned a 1,190 kW distributed photovoltaic array. Hot water for staff accommodation is supplied through a combination of waste-heat recovery from air compressors and solar heating. Its upgraded mine-water treatment station returns all treated water to use on site, with no discharge.

Methane, historically vented as a waste gas, now feeds a low-concentration gas power station generating 18.57 million kWh a year, cutting standard coal consumption by 2,282 tonnes and carbon dioxide emissions by 36,000 tonnes annually, according to Xinhua Finance. The mine reports a methane utilisation rate of no less than 92 per cent and an RTO oxidation efficiency above 95 per cent, with overall energy utilisation above 28 per cent. China’s coal-industry green mining benchmarks list a methane utilisation rate of 90 per cent or higher as the top-tier requirement.

At the 1.8 million tonne-a-year coal preparation plant, precision blending and full consumption of coal slime and gangue have created a closed loop running from extraction through washing and solid-waste utilisation to energy saving and carbon reduction, the company said.

Underground, Enhong has built an intelligent fully mechanised mining face linked by a 10-gigabit ring network and a 5G industrial private network. Precision cutting, powered support and AI-based safety alerts are managed as an integrated system, with key installations operating unattended and by remote control.

China’s green mine evaluation rules require a 100 per cent treatment rate for solid waste and full reuse of mineral-processing wastewater, benchmarks that align with the zero-discharge and full-utilisation outcomes reported at Enhong.

The mine said it has drawn up specific plans for ecological restoration and intelligent upgrading, and will expand the reclaimed area and raise the application of low-carbon technology under a standing green-management system. It also employs residents from surrounding communities and takes part in local road repairs and river-course maintenance.