Jiangcang mine is situated at 4000 mt above sea level, 31 km away from Muli, in the Datong River Basin. Since the exploitation of opencast coal mines along the Datong River began, the local environment has been destroyed, with large quantities of high calorific value coal transported away on a daily basis.


A Greenpeace investigation has revealed the presence of a giant coal mine that has been illegally encroaching on a nature reserve at the source of the Yellow River. The sprawling mining operation, covering an area 14 times larger than the City of London, at an altitude of over 4,000m, has been documented in detail for the first time by Greenpeace East Asia. With evidence gathered on the remote region with satellite images and analysis by legal experts, Greenpeace has established that the coal development violates a number of water protection laws and local nature reserve regulations.