China News Service, September 17th. According to the official WeChat news of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the second round of the fourth batch of the central ecological environmental protection inspection team went deep into the front line and on-site, and verified a number of prominent ecological and environmental problems, and verified a number of inactions and inactions. Act slowly, do not take responsibility, do not hit hard, and even deal with formalism and bureaucracy issues such as perfunctory and falsification.
The Central Ecological and Environmental Protection Inspectors collectively notified the second batch of 7 typical cases.
Among them, some companies of China National Gold Group have not done enough to promote the green mining and restoration of mines.
The specific notification is as follows:
In September 2021, the Central Seventh Ecological Environmental Protection Supervision Group inspected China National Gold Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as China Gold) and found that China National Gold and its subsidiaries were not doing enough to promote green mining and restoration and governance of mines. Problems such as reality are more prominent.
basic situation
The ecological function status of the Northeast Daxinganling Mountains, Inner Mongolia grassland meadows, Shaanxi Qinling Mountains and other regions is very important, and they are important ecological security barriers in my country.
In the above-mentioned areas, China Gold's subsidiary Heilongjiang Wulaga Gold Mine, Inner Mongolia Mining, Liaoning Paishanlou Gold Mine, Shaanxi Tongguan Zhongjin Gold Mining, and many other companies have overlapping mining areas with national nature reserves, illegal occupation of grasslands, Ecological restoration is seriously lagging behind and ecological damage is more prominent.
main problem
(1) Withdrawal of mining rights is lagging behind, and the ecological function of the protected area is still damaged
In June 2018, the first round of Central Ecological and Environmental Protection Inspectors "looked back" pointed out that the Heilongjiang Wulaga Gold Mine and Xinqing Hooded Crane State-level Large areas of nature reserves overlap, and production is still illegal after the expiration of the mining license.
The rectification plan requires that all mining rights in the nature reserve and production facilities be dismantled before the end of 2020.
The inspector found that although the company had stopped production and signed a mining right withdrawal agreement, it had not dismantled its production facilities.
Due to long-term illegal open-pit mining, large-scale open-pit pits have been formed.
Due to the failure to implement slope cutting and load reduction treatment measures, geological disasters such as landslides and collapses of the east and west open pits frequently occur, further aggravating the destruction of the ecological environment and natural landforms.
The company’s "Mining Geological Environmental Protection and Governance and Recovery Plan" proposed that the edges of pits should be treated, waste rock piles and dumping sites should be leveled and sloped, and 145,000 poplars and shrubs should be planted. However, most of the work has not been carried out so far. .
The dumping yard planted 20,000 trees, which was less than 20% of the plan, and the leveling site was only 7 hectares, which was less than 7% of the total area, and the surface was severely exposed.
Nearly 1 million tons of raw ore are stored in the experimental area of the protected area for a long time, and neither cleans up nor adopts the "three prevention" measures.
On September 4, 2021, the inspection team used drones to take pictures. The Wulaga Gold Mine failed to implement slope cutting and load reduction measures, resulting in frequent occurrence of geological disasters such as landslides and collapses in the east and west open pits
On September 4, 2021, the inspection team used drones to shoot. The Wulaga gold dump planted 20,000 trees, which was less than 20% of the plan. The site was leveled to 7 hectares, which was less than 7% of the total area, and the surface was severely exposed.
(2) The law-abiding consciousness is not strong, and the problem of illegal occupation of grassland has long existed
According to the Grassland Law of the People's Republic of China, mining and engineering construction of mineral resources should not occupy or occupy grasslands; if it is necessary to expropriate, requisition or use grasslands, it must be reviewed and approved by the grassland administrative department of the people's government at or above the provincial level.
In May 2018, Inner Mongolia Mining, which belongs to China Gold, was punished by local authorities for illegal occupation of grassland.
However, the company did not stop its illegal activities and only paid compensation fees for the restoration of grassland vegetation. Without obtaining the formalities for grassland requisition and occupation, the company continued to expand its production scale, resulting in an increase in waste rock and tailings emissions and an increase in the illegal occupation of grassland.
Satellite remote sensing images show that in 2021, the company's only waste dumps, tailings ponds and open-pit mines will occupy an area of grassland by about 156 hectares compared with 2018. The current total illegal occupation of grassland area is about 1,634 hectares, causing serious damage to the local grassland ecology. .
Satellite remote sensing images show that the total grassland area occupied by Inner Mongolia's mining dumps, tailings ponds and open-pit mines in 2021 will increase by approximately 156 hectares compared with 2018
(3) The main responsibility is absent, and the restoration and governance of the ecological damage left over from history is not effective
The Liaoning Paishanlou Gold Mining Industry Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of CICC Gold, dealt with the ecological restoration and management of the original pit located in the Haitangshan National Nature Reserve in a perfunctory manner and implemented a "discount".
Many regional slopes, platforms, and original waste rock dumps located in the core area of the nature reserve and the buffer zone have poor ecological restoration treatment effects.
The southern slope of the original open-pit pit is located in the experimental area of the protected area, and the slope cutting and soil covering work will not be carried out until the inspectors are stationed.
The Shaanxi Tongguan Zhongjin Gold Mining Company, which belongs to Zhongjin Gold, is located in the northern foot of the Qinling Mountains. There are nearly forty waste residue sites left in the Qinling General Reserve.
The company reported that the amount of slag piled up in the four pits of Daxicha in Dongtongyu and the first pit of Beigou was zero. The soil has been covered for planting, but the actual waste has not been cleaned up and ecological restoration has not been carried out.
The company subcontracted the restoration and treatment tasks of the Dongtongyu Daxicha Sikeng Waste Slag Site with higher altitude and more fragile ecology to Tongguan Xingye Gravel Plant.
However, the plant is called Qingyun Stone Residue Controlling Ecological Environment, and it is actually excavated stone processing and production, and no substantial ecological restoration has been carried out. The area of Daxicha Sikeng Waste Residue Site is about 20 acres larger than before the treatment.
During the inspection on August 23, 2021, it was found that the Shaanxi Tongguan Zhongjin Gold Mining Dongtongyu Daxicha Sikeng Waste Slag Site did not carry out substantial ecological restoration
Cause Analysis
China's gold-related secondary companies have not established a strong concept of green development, and they have not paid enough attention to the ecological restoration and governance of the mines of their subsidiaries, and the requirements are not strict, and the supervision is not strong.
Relevant production enterprises have inadequate implementation of the main responsibilities of ecological environmental protection, and the awareness of ecological environmental laws is weak. The promotion of ecological restoration and problem rectification is still a fluke and wait-and-see. As a result, some prominent ecological environmental problems have not been effectively resolved for a long time.
The inspection team will further investigate and verify the relevant situation, and do follow-up inspection work as required.