Chinalco Guangxi rare Earth rectification is not in place, the problem of environmental pollution is prominent.

SMM: from September 6 to 15, 2020, the fourth Ecological Environmental Protection Supervision Group of China Aluminum Corporation Guangxi Nonferrous rare Earth Development Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Guangxi rare Earth) and its subordinate enterprises carried out on-site supervision. The inspectors found that the enterprises affiliated to the company failed to rectify the problems of the central eco-environmental protection supervision; the environmental management was chaotic and illegal activities occurred frequently; and the excessive cross-border mining of rare earths polluted the surrounding environment.

I. basic situation

Guangxi rare Earth was founded in July 2011. it is now a third-class enterprise of China Aluminum Group, with a registered capital of 750 million yuan, integrating exploration and exploitation of rare earth resources, smelting separation, deep processing, scientific research and trade. Subordinate to Chinalco Guangxi Nonferrous Gold Source rare Earth Company, Guangxi Guosheng rare Earth New Materials Company, Jiangsu Guosheng rare Earth New Materials Company, and Chinalco Guangxi Cenxi rare Earth Company, Chinalco Guangxi Hezhou rare Earth Company, Chinalco Guangxi Wuzhou rare Earth Company, Chinalco Guangxi Nonferrous Chongzuo rare Earth Company, Chinalco Guangxi Yulin rare Earth Company and other five mining enterprises. The inspectors found that the rectification and reform work of the central eco-environmental protection inspectors of rare earths in Guangxi is not in place, the problem of breaking the law is prominent, the environmental management is chaotic, and there are greater environmental risks.

II. Main problems

(1) serious pollution of the surrounding environment

The first round of central eco-environmental protection inspectors "looking back" pointed out that the anti-seepage facilities of Chinalco Guangxi Cenxi rare Earth Company project are not perfect, polluting the surrounding environment. However, the inspector found that the company did not learn a lesson, as soon as the problem mine was demolished, the follow-up pollution prevention and control measures were not in place, and the pollution problem of the surrounding water environment was still prominent. Guangxi Cenxi rare Earth Company inspector rectification and acceptance opinions "to further strengthen the operation and management of wastewater treatment and maintenance, to ensure the normal operation of environmental protection facilities" requirements have not been implemented. In January 2020, the enterprise dismantled the tail water treatment facilities without authorization and sealed 10 environmental protection monitoring wells. Sampling and monitoring shows that the water quality of the two surface water bodies downstream of the closed mine of the company is inferior to Class V, and the highest ammonia nitrogen is 92.8 times higher than the standard.

Chinalco Guangxi Hezhou rare Earth Co., Ltd. Hezhou-Guiyang high-speed railway pressing rare earth resources rescue recycling project has been repeatedly reported by the public due to water pollution problems, the inspectors found that the related problems have not been solved. Although the project has built an ammonia-nitrogen wastewater treatment project, the on-site inspectors found that the dosing device of the ammonia-nitrogen wastewater treatment project could not operate normally, the drainage pipeline was illegally set up in the pretreatment rapid infiltration pool, and the pretreatment washing wastewater was discharged directly to the external environment without authorization. Sampling and monitoring shows that the water bodies downstream of the hydrometallurgical workshop and the mining area of the project are inferior V, showing obvious acidity, the pH values are 3.77 and 3.59 respectively, and the ammonia nitrogen exceeds the standard by 11.6 times and 9.6 times, respectively.

Chinalco Guangxi Wuzhou rare Earth Company Hongling Trade Logistics Park pressed rare earth resources rescue recovery project after the closure of the relevant sewage treatment facilities Synchronize, and sealed the underground monitoring wells, not in accordance with the requirements of the EIA reply to monitor until the water quality reached the standard steadily. Sampling and monitoring shows that the water body downstream of the original hydrometallurgical workshop of the project is inferior to Class V, and the highest ammonia nitrogen is 10 times higher than the standard.

(2) the problem of environmental violations in construction projects is prominent.

The inspectors found that many projects of rare earth subordinate enterprises in Guangxi were built without EIA examination and approval, and some mining projects exceeded the examination and approval limit, increasing environmental pressure; failing to carry out water injection tests in accordance with the requirements of EIA, there are greater hidden dangers of environmental risks; and some projects even violate the requirements of EIA by building backward production facilities that are explicitly prohibited by the state.

Chinalco Guangxi Wuzhou rare Earth Co., Ltd. Hongling Trade Logistics Park started construction and put into production of the rescue recovery project of rare earth resources in 2015, and did not obtain the EIA record until 2016. Chinalco Guangxi Hezhou rare Earth Co., Ltd. Yonghe Expressway and Guiyang-Guangzhou High-speed Railway rare Earth Mine recovery Project started construction in 2013 and put into production in 2014, and the project EIA filing was not completed until 2017. Chinalco Guangxi Nonferrous Jinyuan rare Earth Co., Ltd. built a new extraction production line in 2015 without EIA approval.

Chinalco Guangxi Wuzhou rare Earth Co., Ltd. Hongling Trade Logistics Park covers the rescue recovery project of rare earth resources, which has the problem of cross-border mining beyond the scope of examination and approval. Chinalco Guangxi Nonferrous Chongzuo rare Earth Co., Ltd. did not carry out water injection experiment in the mining process of Chongzuo Liutang Mine, and began to inject leaching solution for production when the water injection recovery data did not meet the requirements of environmental assessment, which has a greater environmental risk. Chinalco Guangxi Yulin rare Earth Co., Ltd. Guangxi Lipu-Yulin Expressway Xingye section pressing rare earth resources rescue recovery and utilization project violated the requirements of environmental assessment, the construction of the country clearly included in the elimination of backward production capacity of single-stage gas generator. The inspectors also found that the rare earth separation and smelter of Guangxi Hezhou Jinyuan rare Earth Company did not seal the acid dissolution, extraction and other production workshops in accordance with the requirements of the environmental assessment.

(3) the problem of environmental risk is prominent

Guangxi rare earth environmental management is not in place, most of the mine environmental protection emergency pool is not perfect, mine anti-seepage measures are generally missing, a large number of sewage seeps into the ground, the environmental risk problem is prominent.

The surface water interception pool of Chinalco Guangxi Wuzhou rare Earth Company Tengxian rare Earth Mine has only laid an anti-seepage film around the pool body, and there are no anti-seepage measures at the bottom of the pool body; the earth pit without any anti-seepage measures in the mining area is also set as an environmental protection emergency pool. Sampling and monitoring showed that the pH value of surface water interception pool was 4.6, which was obviously acidic, and the concentration of ammonia nitrogen was 78.7mg / L, which exceeded the discharge standard of rare earth industrial pollutants by 4.2 times and exceeded the standard of class III of surface water by 77.7 times. The concentration of ammonia nitrogen in the emergency pool of environmental protection exceeded the standard of class III of surface water by 13.5 times. At the same time, the lead concentrations of groundwater monitoring wells and groundwater interception wells are 0.0228mg/L and 0.103mg / L respectively, which are 1.3times and 9.3times higher than the groundwater class III standard, respectively.

Chinalco Guangxi Yulin rare Earth Co., Ltd. Guangxi Lipu-Yulin Expressway Xingye Section overlays the rescue recovery and utilization of rare earth resources, some workshops do not build environmental protection emergency pools in accordance with the requirements of EIA, and some emergency pools contain stagnant water. There are many breakages in the anti-seepage measures of Rain Water collection pool and Rain Water diversion canal in the second and third workshop of hydrometallurgy. Sampling and monitoring showed that the ammonia nitrogen concentration of Rain Water collection pool in the second workshop and the third workshop exceeded the standard by 2.9 times and 24.7 times respectively.

The inspector also found that the pollution control facilities of some enterprises affiliated to rare earths in Guangxi were not operating normally. The operation of the sewage treatment on-line monitoring facility of Guangxi Hezhou Jinyuan rare Earth Company is abnormal, with 1115 abnormal data in 259 days from 2018 to June 2020. The dosing device of ammonia nitrogen wastewater treatment system in Chongzuo Liutang Mine has been damaged for a long time, and the medicament can not be added normally.

Third, cause analysis

The main responsibility of rare earth environmental protection in Guangxi is not in place. In the process of production and operation, the enterprise failed to pay attention to the problem of environmental protection ideologically, and the awareness of environmental law was weak. The working method of promoting the rectification and reform of the central eco-environmental protection supervision was simple, and even dismantled it, which wasted money and did not solve the problem of mine environmental pollution.

The supervision and management of China rare rare Earth Co., Ltd is not in place. As the direct superior unit of rare earths in Guangxi, it does not pay enough attention to the eco-environmental problems existing in rare earths in Guangxi for a long time, lax supervision and rectification, resulting in the related environmental pollution and environmental risk problems can not be effectively solved for a long time.

The inspection team will further verify the relevant situation and urge Chinalco to investigate and deal with and rectify the situation in accordance with the regulations in accordance with the law.