After years of exploration and practice, the construction of green mines in China has accelerated, with a total of 661 mining enterprises across 4 batches certified as national-level green mine pilot units. These units have combined local conditions and their own characteristics to explore new models for green mine development.
However, overall, the proportion of national-level green mine pilot units remains low, and there has been a lack of unified standards and specifications. Recently, the Guidelines for the Construction of Green Mines in Solid Mineral Resources (for Trial Implementation), drafted by the China Mining Association and the China Institute of Natural Resources and Economic Research, was officially released. This marks that since the concept of "green mining" was first proposed at the China International Mining Conference in 2007, formal written standards for green mine construction have finally been established.
The guidelines cover the entire lifecycle of mine construction, including the construction, operation and closure phases, encompassing the development of mining engineering, beneficiation engineering, tailings engineering, public auxiliary works and supporting facilities for new, expanded/renovated and under-construction mines, with a greater emphasis on the concepts of greenness, environmental protection and harmony. From now on, the evaluation of green mines will become far more stringent and standardized.
In the mine planning stage, it is mandatory to prepare the overall mining area master plan, mineral resource development and utilization plan, and green mine development plan for the mining area; in the mining stage, open-pit mining requires separate stockpiling of stripped topsoil and Quaternary overburden, and classified disposal of construction-phase solid waste such as excavated soil and rock, surrounding rock, etc.; underground mining mandates the adoption of backfill mining methods; in the beneficiation and recovery stage, clear requirements are set for closed-circuit wastewater circulation, safe and resource-based disposal of solid waste, etc.; in mine environmental restoration and governance, additional requirements for the control of exhaust gas and noise emissions in the mining area are added. Only by meeting such stringent requirements can an enterprise be recognized as a green mine enterprise.
In addition, the Report to the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China also stated that as China enters a new era of high-quality development, the green development of the mining industry must also meet new and higher standards. The Central Economic Work Conference, which just concluded in Beijing, noted that China's economic development has shifted to a high-quality development stage, and accelerating ecological civilization construction and launching large-scale land greening initiatives will become key work priorities.
The issuance of the Guidelines for the Construction of Green Mines in Solid Mineral Resources (for Trial Implementation) demonstrates that China has introduced more standardized and stringent criteria for green mine evaluation, which is an inevitable outcome of the development of the new era. It points the way for the environmentally friendly development of the mining industry and will also support the sustainable development of mining enterprises. Zhongyu Dingli undertakes green and environmentally friendly mining aggregate production lines with an hourly output of 50-3000 tons. If you have relevant needs, you can contact our company to obtain a customized design solution.
