China's mine safety network tracks 1 million sensors, boosting nationwide risk surveillance

A nationwide "single network" for mine safety risk monitoring and early warning has been largely established, officials announced at the first-quarter regular press briefing of China's National Mine Safety Administration on Friday.

The system has fully integrated safety sensing data from all coal mines under normal production and construction, open-pit mines with high and steep slopes, tailings ponds and 84% of non-coal underground mines in normal operation.

In response to a question from CGTN, officials said the system has significantly expanded both the breadth and depth of risk detection.

"It is capable of real-time monitoring of over 1.06 million sensors, more than 940,000 underground workers, and 160,000 industrial video feeds, while collecting over 5 billion data points daily," said Zou Delun, deputy director general of the Department of Policy, Regulation and Science and Technology Equipment.

Since the beginning of this year, the National Mine Safety Administration and its provincial branches have conducted more than 900 remote inspections using the national mine safety risk monitoring and early warning system.

A total of over 2,800 potential issues have been identified, including 15 major accident hazards. As of the end of March, the verification rate of identified issues reached 85%, with a rectification rate of 97%, playing an important role in fostering a safe and stable production environment.

China is rich in mineral resources, with 173 mineral types identified, according to data from the Ministry of Natural Resources. Proven reserves rank among the world's highest, with tungsten, antimony, rare earth elements, molybdenum, vanadium and titanium all ranking first globally.

However, a significant share of resource development is shifting toward greater depths, with breakthroughs in the exploration of deep coalbed methane, gold and metallic mineral resources.

According to the China Mineral Resources Report (2025) released by the Ministry of Natural Resources, investment in the mining sector has continued to grow steadily.

More than 80% of China's mineral resources require underground mining, underscoring the structural importance of subsurface extraction. Overall, China's mineral reserves account for approximately 12% of the global total.