Huainan Mining Industry Co. Ltd. in east China's Anhui Province will build China's first colliery ecology protection laboratory to promote the sustainable development of the nation's coal mining industry, the company said.

The laboratory's research will include how to control sinkholes and how to ecologically restore mined areas. It will also research how to treat coal mine solid waste so it does not pollute the environment.

Moreover, the laboratory will also have monitoring and database facilities and two mining-testing demonstration areas with different geological and ecological conditions.

(Xinhua News Agency August 21, 2010)