CNBM Haoyuan Cement's perfunctory rectification of Chinalco's Guangxi rare earth problem rectified "one dismantled"
Central ecological and environmental protection inspectors poke pain points of central enterprises
The ongoing second round of the second batch of central eco-environmental protection inspectors once again exposed the ecological and environmental violations of central enterprises' subsidiaries.
The two companies named were China National Building Materials Group Haoyuan Cement Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Haoyuan Cement) and China Aluminum Group Guangxi Nonferrous Rare Earth Development Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Guangxi Rare Earth).
The Central Ecological and Environmental Protection Supervision Group (hereinafter referred to as the Supervision Group) pointed out that Haoyuan Cement has not only failed to implement national industrial policies, abide by environmental protection laws and regulations, and produce in violation of laws and regulations for a long time, but has also been perfunctory rectification and even under the circumstances of repeated supervision by regulatory authorities. Falsified in the rectification process.
Guangxi Rare Earth's method of promoting the rectification and reform of the central ecological and environmental protection inspection problem is simple, even "dismantling it all at once", which not only wastes funds, but also fails to solve the problem of environmental pollution in the mines.
It is worth noting that this is not the first time that the two companies have discovered violations of the ecological environment.
As for why the two companies have violated the law and the issue has not stopped after repeated prohibitions?
The inspection team pointed out that CNBM and Chinalco have unshirkable responsibilities.
After the inspection team exposed the problems of the two companies, on the afternoon of September 24, Chinalco held a central ecological and environmental protection inspection warning case notification and supervision meeting. Chinalco's party group stated that it sent a problem rectification work team to Guangxi Rare Earth in the afternoon. On-site supervision of problem rectification.
Pollution control passively responds to long-term excessive emissions
Haoyuan Cement, located in Qiqihar City, is a holding company owned by China National Building Material Group North Cement Co., Ltd. From September 8 to 10 this year, the Fifth Central Ecological and Environmental Protection Supervision Group conducted on-site inspections of Haoyuan Cement.
The inspection team pointed out that the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Law and the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan put forward specific requirements for the installation of denitration facilities and the upgrading of dust removal facilities in cement enterprises. In June 2016, Qiqihar City clearly required Haoyuan Cement to implement low-nitrogen cement kilns. Technical transformation of combustion and denitrification.
"However, Haoyuan Cement has long evaded the main responsibility of environmental protection and has responded negatively to pollution control requirements. It did not install and put into operation denitrification facilities until April 2019. The kiln tail bag dust removal transformation was completed in April 2020, resulting in particulate matter and nitrogen oxide emissions during the period. The concentration has exceeded the standard for a long time.” The inspection team pointed out that in June 2019, the emission concentration of Haoyuan cement particles exceeded the standard by 2.8 times, and the nitrogen oxides exceeded the standard by 1.78 times, and was fined 500,000 yuan by the Qiqihar City Ecological Environment Bureau; in September of the same year, the emission concentration of particles exceeded the standard. 3.55 times and was fined 800,000 yuan by Qiqihar City Ecological Environment Bureau.
According to the inspection team, during the on-site inspection from September 8 to 10, although Haoyuan's cement particulate matter and nitrogen oxide emissions met the standards, there were still a large number of raw materials stored in the open air in the factory area, and the problem of fugitive dust and unorganized emissions of dust was very prominent.
The inspection team also found that Haoyuan cement calcium carbide slag had been stored illegally for a long time.
In April and June 2019, Qiqihar City twice issued the Central Ecological Environmental Protection Inspector "Looking Back" Inspection Rectification Notice to Haoyuan Company, requesting Haoyuan Cement to rectify the illegal storage of calcium carbide slag.
However, during this inspection, the inspection team took samples and monitored the water pits next to the calcium carbide slag storage yard in the factory, and the results showed that the pH value was 12.4, which was strongly alkaline sewage.
The inspection team pointed out: “Haoyuan Cement, as a waste control enterprise that develops the comprehensive utilization of solid waste, has become a serious pollution source.”
In addition, Haoyuan Cement's production capacity replacement was fraudulent, and the problems of long-term unlicensed operation were also investigated by the inspection team.
According to the inspection team, since Haoyuan Cement was completed and put into operation in July 2012, it has not obtained a cement production license.
“In 2015, Haoyuan Cement started to apply for cement production licenses through capacity replacement, but the related work was fraudulent and lax.” The inspection team said that in January 2017, the replacement plan used 8 items that have been explicitly eliminated by the country. The cement machine shaft kiln production line was identified as invalid capacity by the relevant authorities and no production license was obtained.
In the replacement plan reported in June 2020, the violation of policy regulations caused the production capacity replacement and permit application work to stagnate again.
The inspection team revealed that due to cross-border mining, in November 2014 and May 2015, Jinxin Mining Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Haoyuan Cement, was punished by the former Arong Banner Land and Resources Bureau and confiscated a total of 196,000 illegal proceeds.
The inspection team’s request for rectification was "dismantled"
Guangxi Rare Earth, with a registered capital of 750 million yuan, is a third-tier enterprise of Aluminum Corporation of China.
Guangxi Rare Earth, established in July 2011, integrates rare earth resource exploration and mining, smelting and separation, deep processing, scientific research, and trade. It has three smelting and separation enterprises including Chinalco Guangxi Nonferrous Jinyuan Rare Earth Company and Chinalco Guangxi Cenxi Rare Earth Company 5 A mining company.
From September 6 to 15, 2020, the Fourth Central Ecological and Environmental Protection Inspection Team conducted on-site inspections of Guangxi Rare Earth and its subsidiaries.
According to the inspection team, the environmental violation of Chinalco Guangxi Cenxi Rare Earth Company (hereinafter referred to as Cenxi Rare Earth) was pointed out as early as the first round of inspectors "looking back".
However, this time the inspector still found that Cenxi Rare Earth had not learned the lesson and "dismantled" the problematic mine. The follow-up pollution prevention measures were not in place, and the surrounding water environment pollution problems were still outstanding.
In January 2020, Cenxi Rare Earth demolished its tail water treatment facilities without authorization, and buried 10 environmental monitoring wells and sealed them.
Sampling and monitoring showed that the water quality of the two surface water bodies downstream of the closed Cenxi Rare Earth Mine was inferior to Class V, and the maximum ammonia nitrogen exceeded the standard by 92.8 times.
“The Chinalco Guangxi Hezhou Rare Earth Company's Hezhou-Guizhou-Guangzhou High-speed Railway Laminated Rare Earth Resource Rescue Recycling Project has been reported by the masses many times due to water environmental pollution. This time the inspector found that the related problems have not been resolved.” The inspection team said that the on-site inspectors found that, The project's ammonia nitrogen wastewater treatment project arbitrarily discharges pretreatment washing wastewater to the external environment.
Sampling and monitoring showed that the water bodies downstream of the hydrometallurgical workshop and the downstream mining area of the project are all inferior V, showing obvious acidity, with pH values of 3.77 and 3.59 respectively, and ammonia nitrogen exceeding the standard by 11.6 times and 9.6 times.
Chinalco Guangxi Wuzhou Rare Earth Company's Hongling Commercial Logistics Park, after the closure of the salvage recovery project of overlying rare earth resources, the related sewage treatment facilities were simultaneously removed, and the underground monitoring wells were sealed and filled, and the water quality was not monitored until the water quality was stable and up to standard according to the requirements of the environmental assessment.
Sampling and monitoring showed that the downstream water body of the original water metallurgical workshop of this project was inferior to Category V, and the ammonia nitrogen exceeded the standard by 10 times.
The on-site inspections of the inspection team also found that some of the projects of Guangxi Rare Earth's subsidiaries were constructed without EIA approval, and some mining projects exceeded the approval limit and over-produced, increasing environmental pressure; some did not carry out water injection tests as required by the EIA, and there were relatively There are large hidden environmental risks; some projects even violate the requirements of environmental assessment and build backward production facilities that are expressly prohibited by the state.
"Guangxi's rare earth environmental management is not in place, most of the mines' environmental protection emergency pools are not sound, the mine's anti-seepage measures are generally lacking, a large amount of sewage seeps into the ground, and the environmental risk is prominent." The interception pool is only covered with anti-seepage membranes around the pool body, and there are no anti-seepage measures at the bottom of the pool body; the mining area also sets up earth pits without any anti-seepage measures as environmental protection emergency pools.
Sampling and monitoring showed that the pH of the surface water interception pool was 4.6, which was obviously acidic. The ammonia nitrogen concentration was 78.7 mg/L, which exceeded the emission standard of rare earth industrial pollutants by 4.2 times and exceeded the surface water category III standard by 77.7 times; the ammonia nitrogen concentration in the environmental emergency pool exceeded Surface water level III standard is 13.5 times.
At the same time, lead concentrations in groundwater monitoring wells and groundwater intercepting wells were 0.0228 mg/L and 0.103 mg/L, respectively, which exceeded the groundwater level III standard by 1.3 times and 9.3 times respectively.
Chinalco Guangxi Yulin Rare Earth Co., Ltd., Lipu-Yulin Expressway Xingye Section of Guangxi Lipu-Yulin Expressway, the ammonia nitrogen concentration in the rainwater collection pool of the second and third workshops of the Lipu-Yulin Expressway salvage recycling project exceeded the standard by 2.9 times and 24.7 times.
Inadequate supervision of the two upper-level companies
The inspection team also analyzed the reasons for the illegal ecological environment of the two companies.
The inspection team pointed out that Haoyuan Cement, as a subsidiary of the China National Building Materials Group, has a weak awareness of ecological and environmental protection responsibility, prominent violations of laws and regulations, and serious environmental pollution.
As the superior company of Haoyuan Cement, North Cement Co., Ltd. does not supervise or inspect the ecological and environmental protection work of its subordinate enterprises. It does not conduct the assessment; it does not understand the national industrial policy in place, and the capacity replacement and rectification work is not active, ineffective, and delayed. Leading to the delay in solving the problem.
The main responsibility of Guangxi Rare Earth's environmental protection has not been implemented in place, and it has failed to attach importance to environmental protection in the process of production and operation.
As the direct superior unit of Guangxi Rare Earth, China Rare Rare Earth Co., Ltd. has not paid enough attention to the long-standing ecological and environmental problems of Guangxi Rare Earth, and the supervision is not strict.
The inspection team stated that it will further verify the problems existing in the two companies and urge China National Building Material Group Co., Ltd. and China Aluminum Group Co., Ltd. to investigate and rectify violations of the ecological environment of their subsidiaries in accordance with laws and regulations.
Our reporter Xi Jianrong