To advance the integration of industry and education, the 2023 cohort of our university's Zijin International Mining Engineer Class traveled to the Zijin Mining Group headquarters in Shanghang, Fujian Province, from September 19 to 21 for a three-day program combining corporate field study with "red" revolutionary education.
The group began at Zijin Mining's headquarters, touring its corporate culture hall and geology and mineral museum. Guided by docents, students traced the company's transformation from a local mine into a global mining conglomerate, learning about its domestic and overseas mineral assets, major projects, technological breakthroughs and green mining practices. Artifacts and data vividly illustrated the corporate mission of "mining for the benefit of society," giving students a direct sense of how a modern major mining group operates and where the industry is heading.
Students then visited the Zijinshan gold-copper mine, the Zijinshan National Mine Park, an open-pit observation deck, a mining botanical garden and a rose garden. From the observation deck, they took in the vast open-pit operation, observing large-scale mining techniques, equipment and production organization up close. The mine park introduced them to Zijinshan's development history, while the botanical and rose gardens demonstrated successful land reclamation and vegetation restoration after mine closure, deepening their understanding of green mining and ecological rehabilitation.
At Zijin Mining Group Gold Refining Co., students viewed a range of finished gold products. At Zijin Copper Co., technicians explained the principles of flash smelting and hydrometallurgy, the cathode copper production process, and systems for recovering associated precious and rare metals such as gold, silver, selenium and tellurium. Students listened attentively, connected the material to their coursework and asked questions, gaining a fuller picture of the copper smelting industrial chain and its scale, intelligence and resource efficiency.
The final stop was the Gutian Conference site for red revolutionary education. Following docents' accounts, students reflected on the historic meeting and its legacy of building the Party ideologically and the army politically. Integrating red political education into the professional visit helped young mining students cultivate patriotic commitment and clarify their mission to serve China's national resource strategy.
The program merged corporate practice, professional exposure and red education. Stepping out of the classroom and into mines and smelters, students encountered cutting-edge industry technology, reinforced their knowledge of mining, mineral processing and metallurgy, and gained a felt sense of responsibility borne by today's mining professionals. Students said the experience was rewarding and vowed to turn what they saw, thought and felt into motivation for their studies—building solid expertise and engineering skills to become high-caliber, versatile mining engineers who can contribute to the nation's mineral resource sector.
