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Mineral resources prospecting and exploitation
will change and affect the ecological environment around the mining areas.
The Chinese government attaches great importance to environmental protection
and the prevention and control of pollution in the course of exploiting
and utilizing mineral resources, and strives for simultaneous development
in mineral resources exploitation and environmental protection and pollution
control. Environmental protection, pollution control and land rehabilitation
in mining areas are explicitly stipulated in laws and regulations China
has published and implemented. The Chinese government will continue to
improve environmental protection in mining areas, and strengthen the work
in the following aspects:
— Continuing to adhere to the principle of placing equal stress
on the exploitation and utilization of mineral resources and the protection
of the ecological environment, by putting prevention first and combining
prevention with control. We shall strictly adhere to the system of environmental
impact evaluation reporting, the system of land rehabilitation and the
system of collecting fees for pollutant discharge in mining areas. We
shall strictly adhere to the system whereby the construction of mines
goes hand in hand with the designing, constructing and commissioning of
environmental protection facilities. Active guidance will be given to
enterprises in organizing clean and safe production in the course of mineral
resources prospecting and exploitation.
— Restricting the exploitation of mineral resources that produce
considerable negative impacts on the ecological environment. Strict control
will be enforced on prospecting and exploitation in national conservation
and other areas where the ecological conditions are weak. Mineral resources
exploitation is forbidden in national conservation, important scenic areas
and important geological protection areas, and mineral resources exploitation
in ecological protection areas is strictly restricted. We shall strictly
prohibit coking, metal refining and smelting, sulfur and vanadium refineries
with indigenous methods. We shall restrict the building or rebuilding
of mines producing coal with a sulfur content exceeding 1.5%, and prohibit
the building of mines producing coal with a sulfur content exceeding 3%.
We shall restrict the exploitation of mineral resources in areas liable
to geological disasters, and prohibit the exploitation of mineral resources
in areas with real danger from geological disasters. Unauthorized exploitation
of mineral resources within a given distance on both sides of railway
lines and major highways is forbidden.
— Evaluating the impact on the ecological environment before starting
a new mineral resources exploitation project. Measures shall be taken
to protect the ecological environment, avoid or reduce adverse effects
or damage caused to the air, water, farmland, grasslands, forests and
seas. A program for the exploitation and utilization of mineral resources
shall include a plan for the protection of water and soil, a plan for
land rehabilitation, a plan for the prevention and control of geological
disasters in mining areas and an evaluation report on geological environmental
impacts. These documents shall be submitted for approval as stipulated.
We shall exercise stricter supervision and management over the control
of the “three wastes” in mines, and strictly control the discharge
of waste gas in accordance with the criteria stipulated by the state.
We shall strengthen the control of poisonous and harmful waste water and
other pollutants produced in mines, and offenders shall be severely dealt
with.
— Strengthening the investigation and monitoring of the environment
and the prevention and control of disasters in mining areas. The government
shall organize nationwide investigations and evaluations of the ecological
environment in mining areas. Mining enterprises shall strengthen investigation,
monitoring, forecasting and early warning of disasters possibly induced
in the course of the development of mines, promptly take effective measures
to prevent and control them, and submit monitoring reports to the competent
departments of the local governments. An information network shall be
established and emergency anti-disaster plans shall be worked out to prevent
sudden disasters at the maximum.
— Setting up a multi-source investment mechanism for environmental
protection in mining areas. We shall establish an agreement-honoring system
for environmental protection and land rehabilitation in mining areas,
and adopt government guidance and market operation to ensure the effective
restoration and improvement of the environment there. With regard to abandoned
mines and old mines, the state will strengthen the restoration and improvement
of the ecological environment on the basis of demonstration projects,
and encourage investment in this regard from society at large. We shall
set up an investment mechanism for environmental control in mines still
in production, with the mining enterprises playing the leading role. The
enterprises shall provide the funds for environmental protection in new
mines.
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