Jiangcang mine is situated 31 km away from Muli coalfield, lying in the Datong River Basin, which provides large quantities of water to the Yellow River. The exploitation of opencast mines along the Datong River has destroyed large areas of alpine and wetland environment.

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.