Recently, walking into the construction site of No. 1 intake and return air shaft of the Ansteel West Anshan Iron Mine project, two extra-large headframes stand tall, staff are operating hoists to transport construction materials and personnel, and workers in the temporary slurry mixing area are pressing ahead with construction—a busy scene everywhere.

　　"At present, the project's 8 vertical shafts and 2 inclined shafts are advancing in an orderly and synchronized manner toward the deep underground, and in particular the excavation depth of No. 3 shaft has reached 380 meters, completing the milestone target ahead of schedule," said Zhu Chaochao, mining chief engineer of Ansteel Jishi Mining Co., Ltd., with deep feeling, adding that thanks to the efficient services and support of government departments at all levels, the handling of pre-approval documents for the project was compressed by nearly 29 months compared with the original plan.

　　Since the project was implemented and construction began, Jishi Mining Company and the construction contractor have continued to optimize the construction plan, striving to achieve "acceleration" in engineering project construction.

　　To optimize approval services and solve the complex problem of project procedure handling, Anshan City specially established a dedicated task force headed by the city's main leaders, formulated the "West Anshan Iron Mine Mining and Processing Project Task List," optimized processes, innovated models, clarified the responsible units and completion time nodes for 16 major items and 112 sub-items of procedures, and carried out scheduling, ultimately setting a new domestic industry record for the speed of procedure handling for newly built mining projects.

　　"No. 1 intake and return air shaft is the most difficult to excavate among the project's 8 vertical shafts, and all excavation and lining are planned to be completed by the end of 2024. To complete the task on schedule with high quality, over the past two days we have divided 26 construction workers into two teams, working continuous shifts 24 hours a day to carry out cement grouting construction, making every effort to create a good construction environment for accelerating excavation in the next step," said Shao Yongping, chief engineer of the West Anshan project management department of China Railway 17th Bureau, who stays at the construction site every day to quickly and effectively solve various problems.

　　"We are stepping up debugging of the full-face tunnel boring machine. Once the equipment's performance is fully brought into play, the excavation speed will be more than 3 times higher than the traditional drill-and-blast excavation method, and project construction will be further accelerated," Zhu Chaochao said, noting that with such a good business environment, they are confident of ensuring the project is put into operation and achieves results on schedule, contributing to achieving new breakthroughs in comprehensive revitalization and building a new Ansteel with high-quality development.