The Mineral Survey Activities In Shanxi And The Development Of Modern Mining Industry

The province of Shanxi has become famous in the world for its rich mineral recources.After 1840s,there were many geologists from both at home and abroad,such as Richthofen,B.Wallis and V.K.Ting,etc,carried out a series of geologic surveys and mineral activities in the whole province of Shanxi.It has not only promoted the development of grology in China;but also has a great impact on the mining industry in Shanxi.Before Richthofen made the investigation to coal mining,iron ore in Shanxi,the exploitation of mineral resources had still been in the traditional manual way.His' ore prospecting activities in Shanxi caused the foreign capitalism's exploitation of Shanxi's mining development and brought scientific methods,new technologies and advanced equipments,laying a foundation for transmitng to modern mining industry.Although the mining industry stepped into the modernization process:the advanced machines were equipped and the new technologies were applied,the trend of development is very uneven in Shanxi province.In the aspect of structure,the development of coal industry is faster than that of iron industry;and in the view of area,the coal industry of Pingding and Datong were quicker than others,the speed of iron development in Pingding and Yangquan was faster than southeast of jin,becoming the new center of iron industry.On the one hand,the modernized industry has established,but the development is very slow and unstable;On the other hand,traditional manual mins still occupied dominate position,which adapted to the demands of development of Shanxi and formed an unique self-sufficient model of development.Due to the limits of information,funds,technology,traffic and the social turbulence,traditional attitudes,the development of mining modernization would be very slow and difficult.