晋华宫国家矿山公园

Jinhuagong National Mine Park

Useful Information

Location:	Nanjiao, Datong, Shanxi, China, 037007. (40.102958, 113.128699)
Open:	Peak season daily 9-17. Off season daiyl 9-16. Underground Tours 9:30, 10:30, 12, 13:30, 14:30, 15:30, 16. [2024]
Fee:
Classification:	Coal Mine Replica Underground Mine Mining Museum Mine Parks in China
Light:	Incandescent
Dimension:	T=16 °C.
Guided tours:	D=2-3 h. L=2,500 m, Min=2, Max=30.
Photography:	not allowed, only with rented smartphones
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Jinhuagong National Mine Park, Nanjiao, Datong, Shanxi, China, 037007, Tel: +86-352-7086666.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

Geology

The mineral resources of Datong City are mainly coal, with porcelain clay, refractory clay, basalt, limestone and graphite. But there are also iron, copper, gold, aluminum, zinc, and phosphorus. In total 91 different minerals and ores were discovered so far. As a result there are 234 mines of various types, including 58 coal mines, 40 ferrous metal mines, 6 non-ferrous metal mines. Additionally, there are quarries for diabase, limestone, clay, and sand. The coal bearing basin has a size of 632 km², and the proven reserve is 37.69 billion tons. The coal is also of very high quality.

Description

晋华宫国家矿山公园 (Jinhua Palace National Mining Park) is one of the recently developed mining related parks, with the main sight being the 大同煤炭博物馆 (Datong Coal Museum). The park is located on the grounds of an abandoned coal mine. The museum shows the formation of coal, the mining techniques, and the history of the local mine. There is also a replica mine which offers an underground tour into a coal mine. The replica is actually underground, so the temperature is 16 °C, which seems to be quite astonishing for most visitors. The entrance to the replica mine is in the museum. The museum is rather new, and the explanatory signs are bilingual, Mandarin and English. The National Mining Parks were created with foreign tourism in mind.

A special thing with this mine, is that it had its heydays as a Japanese mine. In 1937 Japan occupied China, and they were well-prepared, as they had visited the area before. So they knew about the coal deposit and immediately started to take over the 18 mines in the area. Between 1937 and 1945 the mines were operated at full speed and the coal sent to Japan.

The underground tours are quite impressive, they include an elevator ride into the underground and a stroll along a main tunnel with narrow gauge railroad tracks. In niches there are typical scenes of coal mining, showing coal mining equipment of the mid-20th century. The visitors are equipped with a jacket and a helmet. It's not allowed to take smartphone or camera into the mine, but it's possible to rent special smartphones for taking pictures inside. They say those phones are bombproof, but probably that's a mistranslation, we guess they are actually water resistant. However, the true reason for those rent phones is obviously a hidden photo fee.

According to some pages, the site is currently closed, but we have no information if this is seasonal or for renovation.