Day and night, trucks loaded with coal rumble down the dusty road in the desert county of Shenmu, north Shaanxi province, departing from a coal mine studded with gleaming new office blocks.

Wang Xiaopeng, a deputy captain of No. 1 Mining Team of the Xiaobaodang Coal Mine, has just finished a night shift 400 meters underground. Wearing a work uniform coated with heavy coal dust, he opens up a remote-control app on his explosion-proof mobile phone and presses a button. In less than five minutes, a carrier vehicle descends and takes him back up to sunlight and fresh air.

Wang, who has been a coal miner for 11 years, is enthusiastic about his new commute. “Miners used to huddle together and wait for the transport, exhausted, and enduring endless waiting times,” he tells TWOC. “These changes are allowing us to leave behind the dark and dangerous conditions underground.”

Meanwhile, in the Sanshan Island Gold Mine of Laizhou, Shandong province, drill rig operator Teng Shuguang no longer has to work underground at all. In 2020, the mine installed a 5G remote-controlled rock drilling system. Teng can now sit in front of several screens in an air-conditioned room, using a few joysticks and buttons to operate the drill.

Automation removes the very real dangers of working in mines. On January 10, a shaft in a Shandong gold mine collapsed after an explosion, trapping 22 miners underground. Local officials in Yantai waited nearly 30 hours before notifying the provincial authorities, hampering rescue efforts. It took two weeks before 11 of the miners could be pulled out—the rest lost their lives.

As the world’s leading producer of coal and gold, along with most of its rare earth minerals, China is no stranger to mine disasters. The industry has the reputation of being one of the country’s most hazardous. Mine tunnels are dark, hot, dusty, and cramped, with enormous air pressure underground. Any spark can trigger a gas explosion or fire, collapsing the mine and trapping everyone in it below ground. Miners breathe polluted air and poisonous gases for long hours, and develop long-term health problems like “black lung,” a fatal hardening of lungs caused by coal-dust inhalation.