A wholly owned subsidiary of Shandong Borun Process Industrial Technology Co Ltd, Birtley experienced a downturn in the coal-mining industry right after Borun acquired it in 2013.

Coal-rich Shanxi province's action plan for zero-carbon coal-mining is pioneering green and low-carbon transformation across North China, and will popularize technologies like carbon capture, utilization and storage — CCUS — and promote industrial growth, experts said.

"The Boortai subsistence area is the company's largest contiguous coal-mining subsidence area.

In 2020, the regional government issued a policy to support the construction of photovoltaic power stations in coal-mining subsidence areas.