Shimiankuang 石绵矿 Asbestos Mine

China / Xinjiang / Korla /
 mine, production, Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Mangnai Shimiankuang (茫崖石棉矿/石绵矿), 3,200 m asl. on the border of Qinghai Province and Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China.
Shimiankuang is a large, surface-level asbestos mine. Shimiankuang is Chinese for Asbestos Mine: 石绵 shí mián - asbestos, 矿 kuàng - ore / mine. Tash Pahta Kan, its other name, is Uyghur (or Mongolian?) for asbestos mine. You can see it on a map here: www.flickr.com/photos/centralasiatraveler/2260150776/, or all of Qinghai province on a map here: www.flickr.com/photos/centralasiatraveler/2259354915/.

Shimiankuang is in the northwest corner of Qinghai Province. It used to be part of Xinjiang, but the provincial border was changed, likely sometime in the 1990s.

Though the asbestos is certainly deadly for most of the workers, many of whom seem not to be wearing masks of any kind, it may not be dangerous for the visitor to just drive through. However, if the idea concerns you, you may want to avoid this route. Asbestos is a form of the mineral actinolite, which is also the chemical basis of the nephrite jade in the Kunlun Mountains, the source of most of the jade in China for 3,000 years.

You can see a photo of the main factory here:
www.flickr.com/photos/centralasiatraveler/2260238500/in...
You can see a photo of some of the operations here:
www.flickr.com/photos/centralasiatraveler/2259490545/in...
You can see a photo of the weekly (Thursday?) bazaar being set up in the tiny hamlet, which is north of the mine proper, here:
www.flickr.com/photos/centralasiatraveler/2260287248/in...

There is no bus station per se in Shimiankuang, but instead a wide dusty area among the small buildings of this tiny workers' mining hamlet. There are a couple of tiny shops and at least once a week a few trucks come in and set up a bazaar for the day. (A bazaar was being set up on a Thursday when I was there.)

Except in winter when the rough road is closed to all but the most serious vehicles, there are one or two daily SUVs that carry people the 240 km between Charklik / Ruoqiang in southeast Xinjiang to Shimiankuang, across a rough road across the desert, through a narrow river canyon and over a 4,000 m pass.

There is a twice-daily minibus between Shimiankuang and Huatugou, a small oil-drilling village about 60km east. The minibus generally waits for the public car from Charklik /Ruoqiang to arrive before returning to Huatugou. But if your public car is significantly delayed, you may need to wait quite a while for the next bus or even spend the night, unless there is a taxi that can take you either to Mangnai Zhen(茫崖镇 Mangya Zhen), an oil refinery village about 10 km southeast, or onward to Huatugou. Going the other direction, the first minibus from Huatugou meets up with the first public car heading northwest from Shimiankuang to Charklik / Ruoqiang.

From Huatugou (花土沟), you can catch a bus to Golmud / Ge'ermu (格尔木), Qinghai, (667 km) or Xining, Qinghai, (1220 km), or Dunhuang (敦煌), Gansu, 800 km east.

If you have to stay in Shimiankuang, there is very basic accommodation in Shimiankuang for about Y15 per person, which can also provide a basic hot meal. Ask the driver and s/he can point you to the place.
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   38°21'25"N   90°8'51"E

Comments

  • The road between Charklik / Ruoqiang (Xinjiang) and Shimiankuang has been being improved over the last two years and is now mostly paved.
  • The main roads around there are very good nowadays. Especially the road from Huatugou to Golmud seemed brand new in spring 2013. Unfortunately, the means of transportation have not improved as much, and I got stuck in Shimiankuang when coming from Huatugou and trying to continue to Ruoqiang; the bus from Ruoqiang did not arrive at all (which, according to locals, happens sometimes). Luckily I managed to get a ride from the Qinghai-Xinjiang border post to Ruoqiang, with the help from the police manning the post. They basically ordered one busload of people to take me along, which was nice: it is not really a place you want to hang around too long.
This article was last modified 3 years ago