For a long time, I have been wishing to go down to the Dong Bac Corporation's market furnace to feel the will of the "soldier workers" who never give up in the face of any difficulty. This time, my wish was fulfilled when I came to Khe Sim Company.
Story of coal mining engineer
The starting point is the furnace door at -20+/-45. From here, we walk to the production location. This section of the furnace is flat, meaning we are walking on the ground. Also because it is close to the furnace door, the fresh wind blows in, making it cool. The steam from underground water dripping down from the furnace roof is quite cool. The main furnace has both the function of transportation and ventilation, so it is quite airy.
But after only 10 minutes, we came to a more challenging tunnel. The tunnel sloped down to minus 150 meters below sea level. On top of that, the path was narrow and we had to bend over to get through. On both sides were tons of hydraulic support columns, rafts, and wooden strips. Not to mention, the stainless steel coal chute was very slippery.
Engineer Nguyen Manh Duc, Deputy Manager of Mining Site No. 1, our companion, said that we had to dredge a lot of coal, expand the area, and reinforce the roof of the furnace with wood and wire mesh to get it like this. Otherwise, no one would be able to pass through.
There was a steep section that was almost 45 degrees. We held on to the pillars and swung down. Every now and then there was a waist-high barrier to prevent dirt, rocks, and lumps of coal from rolling down to the production area below. To get through, we had to climb up the barrier. After walking for ten minutes, I felt unbearably hot. The deeper we went, the more stuffy it became. There was no wind. The air was also hotter.
The hot air and the descent down the steep tunnel were exhausting. Everyone was sweating profusely. My back was drenched in sweat as if I had been bathing. Sweat stung my eyes, but there was nothing to wipe it away because our arms, legs, and clothes were covered in coal. Looking at the faces of my friends, I would not have recognized them if I had not heard their voices. Because everyone had a face as black as coal. Only their eyes and white teeth were exposed.
As if understanding, Duc smiled gently and said that when he first graduated, he had the same feeling as us now. Duc explained that people often think that after graduating from university, becoming an engineer means sitting in an air-conditioned room. But no, Duc, like anyone else graduating from university, had to work in a coal mine for 6 months as a worker, then he could be transferred to become a technical officer.
At that time, a rural boy was born and raised in Xuan Truong, Nam Dinh, only familiar with the fields, then studied at the University of Mining and Geology, became a mining engineer for Company 86, too bewildered with the coal mirrors deep underground. The mining engineer worked at the mine for a few months and then asked to go back to his hometown to get married.
Some people also "guessed" that the boy could not stand the hardships in the mine and "ran away". But all the guesses were wrong. After a few days, Duc returned, and he did not return alone. He brought his newlywed wife to start a business. Duc's wife applied for an accounting job at a company in Cam Pha, while he continued to dig coal in the mine to complete the 6 months. Duc said that all theories were gray. If you do not go down to the mine to work like your brothers, without practice, you cannot work. Without practice, you will have to pay with your blood and that of your teammates.
After six months of digging, Duc became a technical officer. And now, after Company 86 merged into Khe Sim, at the age of 31, he is the Deputy Manager of Construction Site No. 1. The predecessor of Khe Sim Company - a branch of Dong Bac Corporation is Khe Sim Enterprise, established in 1997. To date, Khe Sim has grown to become one of the leading enterprises of the Corporation. The monthly income of cadres like Duc is about 25 million VND, which is too high compared to the labor force in his hometown. Duc is proud that he works in a military-disciplined environment in Khe Sim.
Than repay people
Speaking of technology, many people recall the early days when Khe Sim only had 1 bulldozer and 5 trucks. The mine was 500 hectares wide, spread across 7 wards and communes of Cam Pha town, with scattered resources, thin seams, and some coal seams that were "broken" and deformed. The management level and mining knowledge of the officers and soldiers were limited and they had not mastered the technology.
The story is different now. Promoting the good nature of “Uncle Ho’s soldiers” combined with the tradition of “Discipline - Unity” of miners, Khe Sim has actively applied science and technology, proactively innovated, created, and renewed modern equipment to improve labor productivity and ensure safety.
New technologies, such as: ZH1600/16/24F mobile hydraulic frame support, XDY hydraulic frame, ZRY soft support frame are applied. Or the application of "single drum" breaker to exploit 10T longwall furnace has helped increase productivity by 1.9 times compared to manual breaker, maximizing resource recovery.
To improve working conditions in underground mining, Khe Sim Company surveyed and found that the 8-level seam -10/+45 at construction site 3 is suitable for longwall mining using ZRY soft support. Captain Nguyen Van Thang, Construction Site 3 Manager, said that in March last year, this new mining technology was installed, completely eliminating longwalls with outdated technology of wooden support, single hydraulic support column - joint beam.
According to Lieutenant Colonel Tran Duc Thanh, Deputy Director and Chairman of the Company's Trade Union, the mechanized ZRY soft support rig supports the mining mirror support stage, replaces outdated support structures, reduces labor, improves working conditions, solves the support problem for coal seams with large slopes, contributes to ensuring safe mining, thoroughly recovering resources in coal seams with medium thickness, creating a new development step in applying advanced underground mining technology at the Company.
The company also applies software to calculate, set up centralized mine gas monitoring stations, automatic surveillance cameras, mine ventilation management, and uses large fans with reversing mechanisms to shorten the construction time of tunnels, speed up the coal production progress of mining areas, increase labor productivity, and improve working conditions.
The results achieved are always a source of pride, inspiration, belief, and motivation for the collective of cadres and workers to constantly innovate and create. Lieutenant Colonel Ta Quang Truong, Head of the Company's Political Department, said that the qualities of soldiers and miners are blended smoothly to create the Khe Sim workers of today. Listening to Truong speak and walking in the market, I saw in the midst of the black coal eyes yearning to master the technique. Rustic and simple in life but determined in work.
Head of the electromechanical team, Pham Van Hanh, boasted to us that this was the most modern pumping pit of the Corporation. It can be understood that the pumping pit is the heart of every underground mine. If the pumping pit malfunctions or stops working for a while, the mine will be flooded, submerging millions of tons of machinery, equipment and hundreds of people. Especially during the rainy season, underground water seeps into the soil and rocks and flows down into the mine. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to not let any incidents happen in the pumping pit area.
With 13 years of working as an electrician in the mine, Mr. Hanh understands better than anyone that electricity is like the blood vessels of the human body. Electricity operates conveyor belts, serves the mining site, the drainage pump system, and the ventilation system. The mine is long, so detecting and handling electrical problems must be quick and accurate.
Mr. Nguyen Huu Thuong, an officer of the Safety Department, led us to the mine, accompanying us like a shadow. I understand that underground mining is an extremely hard, toxic, and dangerous job, so it is absolutely necessary not to interrupt production activities or pose risks to workers. The discipline, order, and style of the military environment have trained the soldiers to be more mature and calm in all situations.
After an hour of walking under the furnace, my legs were about to give out. Duc smiled and said: "You've only walked a quarter of the distance we walk every day. But it's okay, we've finished the walking distance, let's go up now."
From the bottom of the well, we moved to the surface by a device called a monkey winch. The monkey winch is like a cable car with a hard iron bar attached to the winch. Each iron bar has a seat and a footrest. The miners sit on it. Perhaps because of its shape like a monkey swinging, this device is called a monkey winch.
The journey from the well yard to the surface took about 20 minutes. I enjoyed the feeling of being a special passenger. Each passenger was about a dozen meters away from each other. We couldn’t see each other. It was hard to talk along the way. I spent time contemplating the tunnel we had just passed, and the soldiers sweating underground.
Rocks, coal, and sweat test the patience of the workers. Although the land is poor and the coal seams are poor, they never fail the workers. Coal repays people with conveyor belts and ships rushing to eat coal. From here, coal will go everywhere to add fire to life, adding to the tradition of the heroic Northeastern workers.
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