Intelligent upgrade brings vigor to Xinjiang traditional mining company

A mining group in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region is greatly benefiting from the country's strong support in large-scale equipment upgrades to promote industrial development and release the potential of domestic demand.

The 51-year old Luo Xiaoke, who has served the Xinjiang Daming Mining Group Co., Ltd. for nearly 20 year, is now working as a remote operator of mining facilities in the company's Tianhu Iron Mine. He also witnessed the huge and swift changes of the working environment.

The company has constantly promoted the replacement and upgrading of a full set of equipment in mining and transportation, and has invested massively this year to purchase up-to-date equipment such as intelligent tunneling trolleys, intelligent mining trolleys, new energy loaders, and unmanned electric locomotives, according to company officials. "The application of power line carrier technology has realized intelligent remote operation of tunneling and mining processes, transferring operators from underground work sites to ground operations, greatly improving the safety of mining operations and improving the work efficiency of mining processes," said Bai Dengrong, deputy mine manager of Tianhu Iron Mine of Daming group.

For instance, the original excavation trolley could excavate 5.6 meters in a single shift of eight hours, while the new one can excavate seven meters within the same time period; the original mining vehicle had a rock drilling efficiency of 150 meters per eight-hour shift, while the upgraded facility can reach 180 meters.

"In recent years, we have invested more than 20 million yuan each year in the high-tech research and development sector," said Ke Yucai, financial director of the mining group.

Traditional enterprises need to invest a lot in transformation and upgrading. Since the beginning of this year, Hami City in the region, where the Daming group is located, has introduced a number of preferential policies to help enterprises raise funds, such as intellectual property pledge financing loans, corporate credit financing loans, and small and medium-sized enterprise loans.

"In 2024, Hami City secured 148 million yuan in funds for the implementation of major national strategies, building security capacity in key areas, and promoting the renewals of large equipment and replacement of old consumer goods with new ones. Through multiple measures including policy guidance, encouraging enterprises to transform into energy-saving enterprises, and striving for financial support, the city has promoted the transformation of industries towards green, low-carbon and intelligent," said Zhang Xiaoyi, director of Hami Development and Reform Commission.

Intelligent upgrade brings vigor to Xinjiang traditional mining company

India, home to one of the world's youngest populations, is witnessing a growing number of students heading to China in search of quality education and stronger career prospects.

Fields such as artificial intelligence, robotics and engineering are seeing a notable rise in enrollments.

Naresh Patra, a researcher in astrophysics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, chose to study in China for what he describes as the excellent value for the potential boost to his career.

"First thing, the education system is very good and expenses are too low. And second point [is that] you will get good exposure about machine learning and AI, and third point you will get jobs immediately after passing from these universities," said Naresh Patra, a student from India.

There has been a noticeable surge in inquiries from Indian students for courses in engineering and artificial intelligence. To attract more international applicants, Chinese universities have ramped up investment in world-class infrastructure, including advanced laboratories, while expanding scholarship offerings across a wide range of disciplines.

Akshay Bhambri is among those who secured such a scholarship, supporting his research in traditional medicine. He describes his academic experience in China as highly professional and well-structured.

"In different departments, there are enough resources to do that, and even in libraries, whatever you need is provided immediately to you. So this kind of environment for a researcher, for a student, be it undergrad or PhD student, is very helpful when they want to do some kind of research or some kind of understanding to get what they want immediately, so that they can excel in their work," said the researcher.

Cross-border studies are also foundational to forming academic partnerships between China and India, but experts say that even greater outreach and engagement are needed.

"It will be more possible if there is a higher level, not just the people-to-people level, but (if) we see the authorities from both sides interact, and university-to-university interactions, in that case, there would be a lot of confidence building," said Nishith Shah, principal of India China Academy.

More Indian students choose Chinese universities for quality education