TAIYUAN, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Several fully electric autonomous trucks cruise through a limestone quarry in north China's Shanxi Province, their empty cabs offering a vivid glimpse of the country's push toward intelligent, low-carbon mining.
The mine, operated by Yangquan Jidong Cement Co., Ltd., has spent more than 60 million yuan (about 8.62 million U.S. dollars) since 2020 on smart mine projects, introducing automation, digital systems and intelligent operation to improve safety and efficiency.
"The biggest highlight of our smart mine is the autonomous driving system for electric mining trucks," said Li Yangyang, head of the company's mine operations department. "The mine now operates eight autonomous electric trucks, and the transport process is fully unmanned with support from 5G technology."
Compared with conventional trucks, autonomous electric vehicles reduce safety risks and emissions while lowering operating costs, Li said.
Combined with 5G networks and intelligent dispatch systems, the trucks can operate continuously with precise coordination, improving transport efficiency and resource use, he added.
Similar upgrades are underway at other mining sites in Shanxi. At an open-pit coal mine in Shuozhou, nine autonomous trucks are operating under an integrated 4G and 5G network. The system supports vehicle scheduling, fuel monitoring, collision prevention and worker location tracking, while enabling remote control and fully unmanned operations across the mining process.
Experts say autonomous mining trucks are among the fastest-advancing and most effective applications in smart mine construction.
Wang Danshi, secretary-general of the informatization branch of the China National Coal Association, said the number of autonomous vehicles operating in China's open-pit coal mines rose from 88 in 2020 to more than 4,000 in 2025.
Over the past decade or more, as China has tightened production safety regulations to curb deadly accidents, coal mines here have been 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.
A report on intelligent mining released in May 2025 said China's smart mining market is growing at an average annual rate of more than 10 percent, with total market value expected to exceed 120 billion yuan by 2035.
Policy support has underpinned the transition. In 2020, the National Development and Reform Commission and seven other departments issued guidelines to accelerate the development of intelligent coal mines, setting a target for coal mines to achieve basic intelligent operations by 2035.
The guidelines identified intelligent mining as a core technological pillar for the coal industry's high-quality development, calling for the integration of artificial intelligence (AI), the industrial internet of things and other technologies with modern coal production.
The push for smarter mining aligns with China's broader climate goals, which include peaking carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality before 2060.
In Shanxi, one of China's main coal-producing provinces, the transition is already reshaping the energy landscape. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), the province built 400 intelligent coal mines and plans to add 60 more this year, according to the ongoing annual session of its provincial people's congress.
In 2025, Shanxi's installed capacity of new and clean energy exceeded that of coal-fired power for the first time. ■
