An opencast coal mine stripping project in Xinjiang's Zhundong region has recently finalized both contract packages, with a combined value of approximately RMB 830 million.
The general contracting project for stripping construction equipment leasing and labor subcontracting at the No. 2 Opencast Coal Mine in the Wucaiwan Mining Area has completed its tender process. Xinjiang Langchen Construction Engineering Co., Ltd. won the equipment leasing package, while Xinjiang Jiahang Construction Labor Services Co., Ltd. secured the labor subcontracting package. The two contracts together are worth approximately RMB 830 million.
The project is located within Jimsar County, with an initial mining area of about 2.44 square kilometers and a maximum extraction depth of 210 meters. In terms of location, the mining area connects to the 216 National Highway Huoshaoshan toll station about 15 kilometers to the west, and further south leads to the industrial belt road of the Zhundong Economic and Technological Development Zone. Transportation conditions for coal and construction materials are relatively well established.
The focus of this tender is not the main mine construction, but rather directly assembling the equipment and labor needed for stripping production over the coming years. The project has a provisional stripping volume of 84 million cubic meters and a coal extraction volume of 17.2833 million cubic meters. Spread over several years, the annual tasks of earth and rock transportation, dumping, and loading are considerable.
The real cost drivers in opencast coal mining, beyond initial construction, are the long-term expenses of loading, transportation, and dumping. Therefore, with both contract packages now awarded, the primary production resources for the foreseeable future have essentially been locked in.
The equipment leasing package is the larger of the two, won by Xinjiang Langchen Construction Engineering Co., Ltd. with a bid amount of approximately RMB 720 million. This package is not simply about renting excavators and mining trucks. The scope of work includes stripping material loading, transportation, dumping, and working face trimming, as well as road watering for dust suppression and maintenance. It also requires building an intelligent truck dispatching management system and connecting it to the upper-level control platform, with the winning bidder responsible for the maintenance of autonomous driving-related hardware and software. Fuel supply, power supply, repairs, maintenance, and spare parts material supply for the equipment are also included in the service scope.
In other words, the equipment leasing package effectively carries the nature of comprehensive stripping production support. Whether the equipment can maintain stable attendance directly affects daily stripping volumes and dumping progress.
The labor subcontracting package was won by Xinjiang Jiahang Construction Labor Services Co., Ltd. with a bid amount of approximately RMB 109 million. The personnel are responsible for a substantial range of work, from geotechnical stripping and transportation, dumping and leveling, and slope maintenance, to road construction, watering for dust suppression, drainage ditch construction, environmental governance, and soil and water conservation, all of which must be carried out continuously alongside on-site production. Engineering surveying, measurement and acceptance, and production data compilation are also included in the labor scope.
A notable change in this project is that intelligent technology has been directly incorporated into the stripping construction requirements. The site will need to be equipped with autonomous mining truck operators, remote excavator operators, and intelligent dispatching integrated control system operators. In the past, opencast mines mainly focused on the number of equipment units and driver teams. Now, in addition to people and vehicles, the question is whether the dispatching system can keep equipment running smoothly. Dozens or even more large mining trucks operating simultaneously between the mining pit and the dumping site require real-time adjustment of routes, loading, queuing, and equipment status. Avoiding even one traffic jam translates into long-term production efficiency.
Dumping organization is also a major workload in this project. The external dumping site has a total capacity of 203 million cubic meters, sufficient to meet stripping material discharge needs for an extended period after reaching designed production capacity. In 2026, approximately 12.85 million cubic meters are planned for external dumping, alongside about 1.72 million cubic meters for internal dumping. As the mining pit continues to advance downward, the proportion of internal dumping will gradually change. The construction team cannot simply follow fixed routes for long-term transportation; the dumping platform and transportation system must also be adjusted in line with changes in the mining pit.
The project service period is 57 months, running from October 2026 through June 2031, with a fixed service period of three years followed by a two-year priority renewal arrangement. Mining projects of this kind differ from ordinary civil construction. Once a contract is signed, it spans several years. The site is not abandoned after completing a single structure, but rather requires long-term on-site presence following the rhythm of mine production. Equipment utilization rates, fuel costs, maintenance capabilities, and the stability of drivers and operators all ultimately affect profitability.
The two contract packages for the No. 2 Opencast Coal Mine in the Wucaiwan Mining Area total approximately RMB 830 million. The truly large workload lies in the continuous loading, transportation, and dumping over the coming years. Now that both equipment and labor contractors have been determined, the project will enter a phase of continuous production services starting from October 2026.