A group of miners with a dream gather at the gold mine of Yintai Gold’s subsidiary Qinghai Dachaidan Mining Co., Ltd., some 3,700 meters above sea level, to better carry out their mission to “serve our shareholders and repay society”. One of the teams has an average age of 34 years, with the youngest member at just 24 years old. Hailing from both urban and rural areas, their common goal has brought them to the mining division of Qinghai Dachaidan Mining Co., Ltd.

Both surface and subsurface mining are enormous systems engineering undertakings, and require massive human, physical and financial resources. The mining division uses a reasonable amount of capital to fully convert resources using safer mining methods that are more efficient and environmental friendly to create greater value for the company and society.

Mining infrastructure projects are complex and complicated. The process, from preparing reports to the creation of ongoing mining capabilities, not only requires handling massive amounts of documents and drawings, formulating budgets and participating in tenders, but also requires work coordination and management as well as project quality supervision, and inspection and acceptance. The larger the number of transactions, the faster the division operates. When confronted with challenges, the younger members of the mining division are always able to exhibit more potential.

To raise the standard of work, the mining engineering technicians carried out observations at selected spots on-site for one consecutive month to improve work techniques. Thanks to their joint efforts, the Qinglonggou open-pit to subsurface mining project was completed on schedule, with an annual capacity of 300,000 tonnes at the start of 2019, meeting Yintai Gold’s capital market commitment.

The mining team is not only united, but also a learning and innovative team. To maximize the recovery of the thick ore body of the northern section of Qinglonggou mine, they are the first in China to adopt the continuous vertical retreat and dry fill mining approach, and have published three articles in mining trade journals. At the scientific and technological achievement appraisal meeting held by the Qinghai Science and Technology Office, the said mining approach was appraised as an international advanced achievement.

Life at the mines is fairly boring. To the make the leisure time of our miners more interesting, the company holds ad-hoc BBQs, sports events, and artistic performances. The division also organizes activities such as harvesting wild onions, and making dumplings. Our miners get to enjoy themselves and bond with one another during these activities.

With the completion of each project, and the practical application of each innovative achievement, operations have become intrinsically safe on the basis of putting people first. Qinghai Dachaidan Mining Company remains a leader in terms of mining standards in China thanks to the learning passion and innovation impetus of its team. We believe they will scale more heights as they continue to forge ahead.