North China's Shanxi province will soon see the first mine with a 5G network in the country -- after Huozhou Coal Electricity Group signed an agreement with telco China Unicom to build and lease the network in Huozhou's Pangpangtang colliery in the local city of Linfen. 

The installation will take 45 days, involving the laying of underground cabling and 5G network technology will be introduced by April 30 in the main transportation lanes and at least one workplace in the colliery.

Officials said the whole project is expected to be put into full use before the end of May. 

The Pangpangtang colliery, one of six national pilot sites for intelligent mines, signed a strategic partnership agreement with the Shanxi branch of China Unicom in early 2019 to together explore the integration of 5G, artificial intelligence and virtual augmented reality technologies with the coal mining industry. 

Officials said that when 5G technology is used in coal mines, it can accurately and comprehensively obtain various safety production data and underground environmental videos. 

It can also realize various applications such as high-definition audio and video calls underground, rapid transmission of various data and remote control of equipment.

The new project will provide solid technical support for the Pangpangtang colliery, with remote intelligent control and automatic monitoring of relevant data and real-time interconnection in its workplaces. It will also see the introduction of the internet of things for mining.