In August 2021, the Seventh Ecological Environmental Protection Supervision Group of the Central Committee inspected China Gold Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as China Gold). Among the 13 mining enterprises located in Yunnan, Guangxi and Guizhou provinces (regions), 9 enterprises are lack of principal responsibility, and there are many problems, such as ecological damage, environmental pollution, environmental risks and so on.
I. basic situation
Yunnan-Guangxi-Guizhou region has vertical and horizontal rivers and rich biological resources, which is an important ecological functional area of the Pearl River and Yangtze River basins. it has the most typical karst landform in the world, the regional ecosystem is fragile, and the ecological restoration and management is very difficult. At the same time, the region is rich in mineral resources, and there are 3, 7 and 3 mining enterprises in Yunnan, Guangxi and Guizhou respectively.
II. Main problems
(1) lack of principal responsibility, serious environmental pollution and ecological damage
Yunnan Huangjin Zhenyuan Branch is a subsidiary of China Gold Technology, a secondary company of China Gold, which illegally crosses the boundary for open-pit mining of more than 27 hectares, causing ecological damage. The EIA reply requires the use of existing open-pit mining pits as waste sites, but the company illegally built four waste sites covering a total area of about 16 hectares to pile up waste rocks. The task of geological environmental protection and land reclamation of the selected and arranged sites, which should have been basically completed by 2020, has not yet been completed.
Fig. 1 the illegal cross-boundary open-pit mining of Yunnan Huangjin Zhenyuan Branch exceeded 27 hectares, causing ecological damage.
Jindi Mining, Guigang City, Guangxi is a subsidiary of China Gold II Company Guangxi Co., Ltd., which is a national green mining enterprise. According to the 2012 enterprise ecological restoration plan, the construction of a drainage ditch for a waste site should be completed by 2013, and the waste residue from the indigenous mining and leaching site should be cleared and backfilled into the mined-out area by 2014, which has not been implemented so far. According to the 2018 ecological restoration plan, two waste rock sites should be completed by 2021, which has not been implemented. Due to the lack of protection measures for a long time, the mountain streams in the mining area leached down along the waste dump to form a reddish brown pond, which overflowed into the natural water system. The pH value of the pond is 2.53, which is acidic. The concentrations of cyanide and arsenic are 0.63 mg / L and 3.47 mg / L, respectively, which are 2.15 times and 68.4 times of the standard limit of class III of surface water, respectively. In addition, the leachate from the Longdian pit tailings reservoir of the company is discharged directly into the intermountain stream, and the concentration of copper and manganese in the wastewater is 1.89 mg / L and 9.61 mg / L respectively, which exceeds the first class standard of the Integrated sewage discharge Standard by 2.78 times and 3.81 times, respectively. The concentration of lead in the downstream surface water is 0.9 mg / L, which exceeds the class III standard limit of surface water by 17 times.
Fig. 2 the intermountain stream leached down along the waste rock dump in the Jindi mining area of Guigang City, forming a reddish brown pond, in which the indexes of cyanide and arsenic exceeded the standard.
Yunnan Gold Xinping Branch is a subordinate enterprise of China Gold Secondary Company, China Gold Science and Technology, which did not dispose of the waste rock according to the requirements of the reply, but piled it directly by the Mayang River without authorization. Jinqi Mining Co., Ltd., Hezhou City, Guangxi, is a subsidiary of China Gold II Company Guangxi Company. There is rust-colored sewage seeping from the leachate collection pool of Zhanggongling tailings reservoir, and the monitoring shows that the concentration of arsenic exceeds the standard.
(2) the concept of ecological priority and green development is not firmly rooted, and the problem of violating the requirements of key functional areas is prominent.
Hongyi Mining (Gold Mine) in Fengshan County, Guangxi is the second-class company of China Gold, and the scope of mining rights coincides with that of Guangxi Leye-Fengshan World Geopark. In 2016, Guangxi issued the negative list of Industrial access in key Ecological functional areas (hereinafter referred to as the negative list), requiring Fengshan County to ban new gold mining projects and withdraw existing projects in 2019. Hongyi Mining not only did not quit, but applied to resume construction in 2020. As a superior company, CICC also approved to restart the selection, reconstruction and expansion project. After knowing the relevant situation of the negative list in the application process, it did not carry out rectification as required, but found ways to promote the adjustment of the negative list. The inspector found that the water from the Hongyi mining mine was directly discharged from the surrounding water, and the concentration of arsenic was 0.19 mg / L, which exceeded the class III standard limit of surface water by 2.8 times.
Guangxi Fengshan Tiancheng Gold Mining is a subsidiary of China Gold II Company, and Jinxiu Maoyuan Mining is a subsidiary of China Gold II Guangxi Company. Fengshan Tiancheng Gold Mining Gold Mining and Jinxiu Maoyuan Mining Copper Mine projects are also prohibited projects on the negative list, and the relevant requirements have not been implemented. CICC Gold approved the resumption of trial production of Fengshan Tiancheng Gold Mining in 2020. China Gold Guangxi Company has written to the local government and relevant departments many times to coordinate and promote the adjustment of the negative list. Inspectors found that the excessive discharge of arsenic-containing wastewater from Fengshan Tiancheng Gold Mining caused surface water pollution, and in 2011, local authorities ordered it to stop trial production and require post-environmental impact assessment, but the company did not begin to implement post-evaluation measures until 2019. At present, the highest concentration of arsenic in the surrounding surface water is 0.15 mg / L, which exceeds the class III standard limit of surface water by 2 times, and the highest concentration of arsenic in groundwater is 0.12 mg / L, which exceeds the class III standard limit of groundwater by 11 times.
Fig. 3 China Gold Gold agrees to restart reconstruction and expansion projects and resume trial production by two enterprises in violation of regulations.
(3) the awareness of environmental risk prevention is not strong, and the hidden dangers of environmental safety are prominent.
The facilities for intercepting flood and blocking slag at the waste rock site of Huangjin Zhenyuan Branch in Yunnan Province are not perfect. In 2020, slag was washed into the tributary of Mayang River, causing pollution to the lower reaches of the river. The inspectors found that in the mining area, a large amount of waste residue was accumulated in the Liushuanggou ditch to block the river, and some of the waste residue was also piled up in Dawengzi ditch, which was washed down the river directly into the downstream river during the rainy season this year. Because no drainage ditch and other facilities have been built in the Donggualin east open-pit pit, the leaching water formed by rain flows directly into the river course of the mining area.
Jinlong Gold Mining in southwestern Guizhou Province is a second-class company of Chinese gold. The suspended tailings reservoir has not been impervious and has accumulated about 2.18 million cubic meters of cyanide-containing tailings, which is a hidden danger to the environment. However, the company does not pay enough attention to this, so far the tailings resource management project has not been started.
In accordance with the requirements of the notice of the relevant state departments on issuing the work plan for preventing and mitigating the safety risks of tailing ponds, the tailing ponds that have been out of use for more than 3 years must be closed within one year. The Wuzhishan tailing reservoir of Jindi Mining has been closed for many years since 2012, and it has not been closed so far, causing pollution to the downstream water environment. According to the monitoring, the pH value of the downstream groundwater is 4.18 and is acidic, and the highest concentrations of lead and manganese are 0.21 mg / L and 14.2 mg / L respectively, which exceed the class III standard limit of groundwater by 20 times and 141 times respectively; the Longshui tailing reservoir of Jinqi Company has not been closed since 2011, and the pH value of the downstream groundwater is 5.5, showing acidity.
Fig. 4 waste water discharged from Wuzhishan tailings reservoir of Jindi Mining Industry in Guigang City pollutes the surrounding environment.
Third, cause analysis
China Gold and related secondary companies do not adhere to ecological priority and green development, and do not pay enough attention to the problems existing in subordinate enterprises, such as extensive utilization of resources, lagging management of ecological restoration and so on. Located in Yunnan-Guangxi-Guizhou region, the legal awareness of ecological environmental protection of relevant enterprises is weak, and the problems of ecological damage, environmental pollution and environmental risks are prominent.
The inspection team will further investigate and verify the relevant situation and do a good job in the follow-up supervision work as required.
