HAVING survived multiple previous deadlines, steam operation at the world’s last bastion of steam and the significant working steam depot in Sandaoling’s (Three Small Hills) huge open-cast coal mine in Xinjiang province in northwest China came to an end on January 15.
As previously reported, steam operation at the mine, which for some years has been the last major commercial non-heritage steam location in the world, had been temporarily reprieved in May 2018, after the plan to replace it with lorries was deemed uneconomic.
However, the open-cast pit had been expected to be worked out within three years and mine management had announced locally that steam operation would end in September 2021; a year later than an original deadline set by the local government.