41.835033, 123.852983

Xilutian Mine

West Pit - 西露天矿

Useful Information

Location:	No. 1, Guchengzi Street, Wanghua District, Fushun City, Liaoning province. Fushun, Liaoning province. (41.835033, 123.852983)
Open:	Fushun Coal Mine Museum: All year Tue-Sun 8:30-15. [2024]
Fee:	free. [2024]
Classification:	Coal Mine Biggest Open Cast Mine
Light:	Incandescent
Dimension:	West Pit: L=6,600 m W=2,200 m VR=420 m. East Pit: L=5,950 m, W=990 m.
Guided tours:
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:
Address:	Xilutian Mine, No. 1, Guchengzi Street, Wanghua District, Fushun City, Liaoning province, Tel: +86-24-52512425.
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

1901	mine opened.
15-DEC-2011	Fushun Coal Mine Museum was completed and opened to the public.
2016	planned closure.
2019	mine shut down.

Description

Fushun City prospered because of coal and was once known as the "Coal City". The mining started in 1901 with the entrepreneur Wang Chengyao. Over 100 years the mine was operated, and today it is the 3rd largest open cast mine in the world (according to our own list) [2024]. It produced 280 million tons of coal and 530 million tons of oil shale, and a revenue of 3.4 billion CNY in profits and taxes. The mine was so important for the economy of the country that it was visited by all the politicians, like Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Dong Biwu, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, Qiao Shi, Zhu Rongji, and Wen Jiabao. This is the official list, we recognized only two or three. However, they visited the huge open cast from the official viewing platform, which is today the location of the mining musuem.

Xilutian Mine was finally closed in 2019, after the closure was postponed several times. The West Pit (in Cinese 西露天矿 or Xī lùtiān kuàng) was once the largest open-pit coal mine in Asia. It was the economic engine for Fushun City and fueled China's heavy industries since 1914. The mine had its heydays in the early 1960s, with annual coal production reaching 18 million tons. It seems the mine was actually closed because the coal was exhausted, as China reached a new record high in coal production in 2019. Production increased in mainly in Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia, to meet increasing demand.

The result of mining at Fushun was a wasteland of 1.4 km² which is currently under ecological management. The idea is to stop the frequent mudslides and ground sinking, and to build it into an eco-friendly site. In 2020 one-fifth of the renaturation was completed. The Chinese way seems to be the creation of a sort of park on the slopes of the pit in the hope that the vegetation will stabilize the pit.

The mine is used as a show mine for several years, even before the closure. Tourists are allowed to visit a part of the mine on guided tours and see the work excavators, bulldozers and trucks. There is a viewing deck surrounded by an exhibition of machinery once used in the mine. This includes, for example, a bulldozer plow from the first half of century, a 1950 Soviet excavator and a 1960 East German electric locomotive.

There is also a museum on the development of Liaoning's coal mining industry. It is known as 抚顺煤矿博物馆 (Fushun Coal Mine Museum) and located on the southwestern side of the West Pit. It is the starting point of any excursion and the mine tours. It also offers a great view of the open cast, we already mentioned the official outlook. The Fushun Coal Mine Museum was planned and built by Fushun Mining Group. They are proud that they did this in only 100 days. According to them, it is "highlighting the six major characteristics of a century, coal capital, leader, unique, precious, and leading". Probably this sounds better in Chinese, in English it is nonsense. The exhibits include the coal formation, the coal quality, the mining technology. But it also exhibits artworks and sculptures which were made of coal, dubbed black jade, the exhibition is called Black Gold and Black Jade. Another exhibition is dedicated to amber and is named Pearl of the Coal Sea.

Xilutian coal mine is the type locale of the wasp Leptogasterites furvus Hong 2002 and Leptogasterites brunneus Hong 2002. They were found in amber since the 1980s. The insects lived between 48 and 56 Million years ago.