【Guess the Scenic Spot in Haichuan】Once Asia’s largest industrial grain depot, now set to become a tourist attraction

Recently, the ecological restoration project for the Aoshan quarry at Magang Nanshan Mine was officially launched. This marks the end of a century-long history of mining at the Aoshan pit, the largest open-pit iron mine in East China and known as the \"grain depot of MaSteel\" and a \"meritorious mining site\", as it enters a phase of ecological restoration. It is understood that the Aoshan quarry, which is currently part of MaSteel Nanshan Mining Company, is the largest open-pit iron mine in East China. It boasts abundant iron ore resources, and its history of mining dates back to 1917, during the period when local entrepreneurs sought to save the nation through industrial development. In 1954, the Aoshan quarry resumed operations, becoming the birthplace of MaSteel and the cradle of the industrial city of Ma’anshan. A hundred years have passed, and much has changed. After years of mining, the Aoshan pit, with a surface area of less than 1 square kilometer, has transformed from a mountain at an elevation of 184 meters into a mine shaft at a depth of -210 meters. “From a \"giant\" to a \"dwarf,\" it has continued to supply Maanshan Iron and Steel with 200 million tons of ore, creating a miracle in the history of China’s mining industry. Today, the iron ore resources in the Aoshan quarry have been exhausted. It is reported that the ecological restoration of the Aoshan quarry will include three aspects: tailings backfilling, development of characteristic tourism, and land reclamation. At the site of the mining area, the reporter saw that the bottom of the pit had already been filled with some tailings, creating a water surface 50 meters deep ； The terraced “annual rings” around the mine slope have been covered by much natural vegetation and a small amount of artificial vegetation. According to Liu Wensheng, director of the Geological Environment Remediation Project for Nanshan Mine, the Ao Mountain mining site has a solid foundation for ecological restoration. It will be restored using a model that involves developing tourism activities while simultaneously filling in the areas affected, an approach that is rare across the country; this will result in the creation of large tailing ponds as well as distinctive tourist attractions. At present, the specific plans and strategies for the ecological restoration of the Aoshan quarry are being developed.