Recovering large and small mine pits to recreate the beautiful scenery of the grassland

The mines turn into green mountains and mining areas into scenic spots

When the grass is green again, traveling deep into the grasslands of Inner Mongolia, the great changes in mine management and mining area scenery are eye-catching: some small mines The backfill is covered with green and blends seamlessly with the grassland; some open-pit mines are being mined and repaired at the same time, harmoniously growing with grassland rivers and lakes; green mines that have been treated have even become part of the beautiful scenery.

Once upon a time, mines were a "heart disease" for Inner Mongolians. Thousands of large and small mines have opened glaring holes, and the prairie is as black and yellow as if it has "alopecia areata" or "psoriasis". Farmers and herdsmen were worried about their homes. Tourists wanted to experience the beautiful scenery in "Celege", but "the wind blows the grass and the coal pits appear". Some people were disappointed and changed the lyrics to "Beautiful grassland my pain".

As an important ecological security barrier in northern my country, Inner Mongolia has anchored ecological priority and green development in recent years, and launched a battle for ecological governance. In the midsummer of July, when I walked into the Shengli No. 1 open-pit mine of Shenhua Beidian Shengli Energy Co., Ltd., I saw two bays of clear water like blue hada, surrounded by three green mountains, with lush vegetation and the fragrance of flowers. If you hadn't seen the closed coal conveyor belt that spans east and west, it would be difficult to realize that this is actually a mine. This national green mine located in the Xilingol Prairie will invest nearly 100 million yuan in ecological restoration in 2021 alone, which is equivalent to nearly 4 yuan in ecological restoration costs for every ton of coal produced.

On one of the green hills more than 50 meters high, micro-sprinkler drip irrigation facilities cover the surrounding area, and fine water mist irrigates the caraganas and alfalfa on the slopes. Shang Zhi, manager of the reclamation and greening department of Shenhua Beidian Shengli Energy Co., Ltd., said proudly: "These three green hills are the greening of three landfills; the two bays of clear water are the recycling of coal mine dewatering water. Through micro spraying The device has realized the resource utilization of waste water, greatly improved the ecological construction level of the mining area, and the mine greening has basically achieved a self-sustaining state. "In recent years, the company has invested more than 500 million yuan in continuous mine ecological restoration work, and the ecological environment has undergone earth-shaking changes. . "Little animals will vote with their feet whether the ecology is good or not." He said that foxes, rabbits and other animals can often be seen in the mining area.

In recent years, environmental management of mines of all sizes in various cities in Inner Mongolia has been carried out successively. Grass is suitable for grass, and forest is suitable for forest. It is combined with scientific planting to increase vegetation coverage. The patches on the grassland are "bald". " Gradually it turned back into a "green carpet". Some areas have also innovated new ideas and methods, turning mines into green mountains and mining areas into scenic spots.

The Tianjiao Tianjun Ecological Tourism Resort in Ulanhot City is located in several abandoned mines. The local area made full use of the topographic and landform characteristics of the mines and built the Tianjun Covered Bridge through a combination of ecological restoration and tourism development. , Huagu Qingquan and Gesang Flower Sea and other attractions. Zhao Pengjun, the person in charge of the scenic spot, said: "After three years of management, the mining area has been transformed into a flower field of 710,000 square meters, which attracts many tourists to come to enjoy the flowers when they are in full bloom."

As of early June this year, Inner Mongolia has built a green mine 360, including 47 national-level green mines. The improvement of the beauty of the grassland makes tourists from all over the world feel more relaxed and happy.

Tighten the institutional "cage" and prevent the grasslands from losing their color due to mining

Zhao Dayong, director of the Department of Natural Resources of Inner Mongolia, introduced that in order to protect the natural ecology, Inner Mongolia issued the country's first environmental protection policy in 2017. The green mine construction plan implemented in the name of the provincial government has put the green mine construction in the region on the fast track. In 2020, the "Implementation Plan for Mine Environmental Governance in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region" was issued to clarify the comprehensive management of various mining environmental issues. The "Regulations on Geological Environmental Protection of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region" that will be implemented in 2021 will include green mine construction into the regulations for the first time. The legal system and institutional standards for green mine construction are increasingly improving. At present, Inner Mongolia has clearly implemented the ecological restoration of regional mines and joint management of concentrated mining areas of open-pit mines, and prohibits the development of mineral resources that have a significant impact on the ecological environment.

Major coal mines and non-coal mines on the grassland have taken action one after another, and a series of regulations and systems are tightening the "cage" of the green development system. In Xilingol League, the local government has issued institutional measures such as the "Guidelines for the Construction of Green Mine Demonstration Projects" and "Technical Guidelines for Mine Vegetation Restoration and Management" to vigorously promote the improvement of the ecological environment of mines. In Huolingol City, the local government issued the "Work Plan for the Rectification and Improvement of Mine Ecological Environment", which included all 33 mines in the scope of rectification. Party and government cadres were organized to "mountain top" to regularly supervise and promote progress. Currently, all mines in the city that meet the conditions for rectification are All have returned to green.

"The construction of green mines in Inner Mongolia not only pursues 'face', but also 'lizi', and more importantly, 'brain'. Intelligence and informatization are the 'core' of green mines. Our The goal is to promote the transformation, upgrading and high-quality development of mining companies through green mine construction." Zhao Dayong gave an example. The three production mines of Yanbao Energy of the National Energy Group in Hulunbuir City continue to optimize the design of open-pit mines and achieve production and crushing. , the entire transportation process is clean, and the company has also built China's first extreme cold working conditions "5G+" driverless mining dump truck marshalling project, developing towards automation, digital, smart, and unmanned mines.

Statistics show that during the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" period, Inner Mongolia invested approximately 10 billion yuan in various production mines and completed environmental treatment area of ??approximately 712 square kilometers. At the same time, Inner Mongolia implements "double random and one open" inspections to strengthen the dynamic supervision of green mines to ensure that the results of mine restoration are sustainable. Since this year, 142 mining companies have been removed from the green mine list to achieve the goal of "prosperity if green, and decline if not green". ".

For many companies, green mine construction is like a "green revolution" and they need to take the concept of green mining into their hearts. In the past few days, Zhao Zhigang, manager of Xilingol Shengli Mining Co., Ltd. of Inner Mongolia Energy Power Generation Investment Group, has submitted the materials and is fully looking forward to the announcement of the results of a new batch of autonomous region-level green mines. From being required to make rectifications by the central environmental protection inspection team due to poor ecological conditions in 2020, to completing reclamation and greening and building dust-proof coal sheds, fully enclosed coal conveying belts and coal bunkers, and rapid vehicle loading systems, the past "West Third "Pit" achieves green transformation from the inside out.

“Green mine construction is a baptism of development concepts, reminding enterprises that they must implement the green mining concept throughout the entire process of mineral resource development and utilization, and create a high-level transformation of mines into green mountains, mining areas into scenic spots, and ecology into benefits. A new path for quality development," Zhao Zhigang said with deep emotion.

More efforts are still needed to consolidate the restoration results

Inner Mongolia’s green mine construction achievements in recent years are obvious, and the ecological environment of the mining area continues to improve. However, in the practice of green mines in Inner Mongolia, it has also been found that there are still bottlenecks in the subsequent advancement of green mine construction and the consolidation of restoration results, which need to be resolved urgently.

"Mandatory standards alone are not enough, but also need financial support." The person in charge of many coal companies said that with the current high coal prices, coal companies still have funds to repair mines. Due to the "mining and management at the same time" nature of mine rehabilitation, once the coal market downturns in the future, there may be intermittent problems in mine rehabilitation. Grassroots cadres and coal company leaders suggested that the ecological compensation mechanism should be improved. During the coal production and sales process, the beneficiaries should compensate the ecologically damaged parties, changing the situation of relying solely on coal-producing areas to manage the mine environment. Zhang Xuejun, director of the Natural Resources Bureau of Xilingol League, suggested that mining companies can be encouraged to "deposit" mine ecological restoration funds at a certain proportion based on marketing revenue to ensure the smooth progress of subsequent mine environmental management.

While improving the system and ensuring funds, supervision also needs to keep up. Grassroots cadres called for further clarifying the implementation methods and supervision responsibilities of land space ecological restoration and mine ecological restoration, improving the supervision and coordination mechanism of various departments, and promoting mining environmental governance in an orderly, powerful, scientific and efficient manner.

Reprinted from: Economic Information Daily