Present situation and countermeasures of economic development and ecological protection of mining industry in China

China is a big country of mining and mineral resources in the world. As a pillar industry of our national economy, mining has made great contributions to the country's economic and social development. With the continuous improvement of industrialization, the excessive development and irrational use of mineral resources have caused soil erosion, cultivated land destruction, environmental pollution and geological disasters to varying degrees, resulting in the deterioration of ecological environment. The high intensity consumption of mineral resources in the process of releasing a large amount of carbon dioxide is one of the direct causes of sea level rise and climate warming. The contradiction between mining economy development and ecological environment is becoming more and more prominent, which not only affects and restricts China's economic development, but also threatens human survival. How to protect the "clear water and green mountains" on which we live while getting "Jinshan and silver Mountains" has become a problem that we face together and need to solve urgently.

l. Ecological and environmental problems caused by mineral resources exploitation

In the process of human beings pursuing a higher quality of life, the ecological environment has been destroyed by human activities and lifestyles. As for the relationship between industrial development and ecological environment, in ancient times, human beings mainly relied on the gifts of nature, and had low awareness and poor ability to actively transform nature, and the impact on ecological environment did not exceed the scope of nature's self-regulation ability. With the development of agricultural society, people began to exploit natural resources in large quantities, but the problem was not prominent because of the initial stage of ecological environment destruction. After the Industrial Revolution, as the population continued to rise, human understanding of nature was further deepened, the level of use of new technologies was further enhanced, and the predatory exploitation ability of natural resources reached an unprecedented level, resulting in the gradual reduction of resource reserves and increasing environmental pollution, and the speed and extent of ecological pollution far exceeded the capacity of natural environment to withstand and self-renew. Pollution problems emerge in an endless stream, and the environmental situation is extremely severe.

Nowadays, the large-scale mining of mineral resources and the irregular development of mining work have become the main causes of environmental pollution and ecological imbalance. The destruction of the ecological environment caused by the exploitation of mineral resources has the characteristics of large area, wide scope, long time and various forms. If it is not paid attention to in time, it will seriously endanger the national economic security and social and political stability.

1.1 The natural environment is seriously polluted and biodiversity is under threat

Improper exploitation of mineral resources can easily cause water, land, climate and other natural environment pollution. On the one hand, the mining process of mineral resources will destroy the groundwater layer, drain the groundwater, cause the groundwater level to fall, and introduce the waste water containing a large number of heavy metals and harmful substances into the surface, resulting in the shortage of water pollution and accelerate the spread of diseases, according to the United Nations report. Every year, more than 2 billion people in the world face the problem of water shortage, and more than 2.2 million people lose their lives due to water pollution. China is one of the countries with the most serious water shortage in the world, with two thirds of cities having insufficient water supply and one sixth suffering from severe water shortage. On the other hand, mining of mineral resources, especially open-pit mining, needs to peel off a large area of surface land and remove surface vegetation, resulting in changes in landform and topography, including soil erosion, ground collapse, vegetation destruction, etc., so that the surface gradually loses stability, and then causes earthquakes, mudslides, mountain collapses and other geological disasters, directly endangering human life and property safety. In addition, a large amount of dust is generated during the mining, processing and production of mineral resources, causing serious air pollution and becoming the biggest environmental threat to human health. According to the report released by the World Health Organization, environmental pollution is seriously affecting the lives and health of millions of people around the world, and more than 3 million people die from air pollution every year. The continuous decline of ecological services has intensified species extinction, with an average of 200-300 species disappearing every year, and the ecological balance has been seriously disturbed.

1.2 The amount of solid waste is huge, and the ecological environment is overloaded

The development of mineral resources usually produces two kinds of solid waste, tailings and waste rock. With the gradual increase of mining volume, the accumulation of solid waste keeps increasing, and a large amount of land is occupied by solid waste, which leads to the shortage of land resources and limited development. At the same time, the accumulated solid waste after a long time of wind, sun, rain, the harmful elements of which are further released, continue to penetrate into the groundwater system, or form atmospheric pollution dust, seriously reduce the carrying capacity of water, soil and atmosphere, to the ecological environment has a serious impact and huge pressure. According to Statista data, the global public opinion survey statistics portal, the world produces about 2 billion tons of solid waste every year, which cannot be solved timely and effectively through garbage recycling or natural degradation, and pollution accidents occur frequently.

1.3 The gap of mine ecological restoration is obvious, and the difficulty of environmental governance is increased

As of 2020, 12,000 mines have been closed, and more than 54 million mu of damaged land has been occupied by mining, of which more than 34 million mu of damaged land has been occupied by mines left over from history, and more than 20 million mu of damaged land has been occupied by mines under exploitation. At the same time, China's current mining management investment is insufficient, although the state has used a lot of funds for the restoration and management of mines, and requires enterprises to pay environmental governance costs, but compared with such a large number of legacy mines is still a drop in the bucket.

Compared with large mines, small and medium-sized mines have less damage to the ecological environment, but due to the characteristics of many small and medium-sized mines in China, coupled with poor technical strength, mining control and environmental governance are not in place and other factors, the comprehensive environmental bearing pressure is still increasing. In addition, the industrialization of developed countries has gone through a long process of hundreds of years, and many environmental problems have been gradually exposed in the process of development, so that people have enough time to understand, control and solve them. However, China's industrialization has experienced a rapid development stage after the reform and opening up, and various environmental problems have been concentrated in a short period of time, showing a complex situation of diversity, high intensity, large emission and endless emergence of new problems, which makes the task of ecological environment management in China more difficult.

2, China's ecological protection process

The Chinese government attaches great importance to the issue of ecological resources, and has incorporated the ideas and measures of resource conservation and environmental protection into all aspects of the national economic and social development planning, vigorously promoted energy conservation, emission reduction and environmental pollution control, and accelerated the realization of a development pattern of synchronizing environmental protection with economic development and harmonious coexistence between man and nature.

1) National strategy to lay a solid foundation for ecological and environmental protection. The 15th National Congress of the CPC put forward the strategy of sustainable development, elevating ecological environmental protection to the same important position as economic and social development, and making strategic arrangements for ecological environment construction; The 16th National Congress of the CPC put forward the basic state policy of conserving resources and protecting the environment, and pointed out that we should adhere to the green and circular development strategy of giving priority to conservation, protection and natural restoration. The 17th National Congress of the CPC listed the excessive cost of resources and environment in economic growth as the first of the difficulties and problems, and paid great attention to the protection of resources and environment and the transformation of the mode of economic development. At the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, it was proposed to fully implement the "five-in-one" overall plan for economic, political, cultural, social, and ecological progress, giving prominence to ecological progress. The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out that accelerating the reform of the ecological civilization system should not only create more material and spiritual wealth to meet the people's growing needs for a better life, but also provide more high-quality ecological products to meet the people's growing needs for a beautiful ecological environment, and put forward the core concept of respecting, adapting to and protecting nature.

2) Policy construction to effectively protect the ecological environment. The introduction of the "eight systems" for environmental management has made a series of provisions on environmental impact assessment, charging, protection, and comprehensive remediation, and has used legal means to guide the development of environmentally friendly advanced technologies, playing an important role in promoting China's environmental protection management. Subsequently, the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Finance launched the construction of the "urban mineral" demonstration base; The Ministry of Science and Technology issued the "12th Five-Year Plan" for Waste Resource Science and Technology Projects to promote the formation of a circular economy and promote the development of resource recycling industries. At the same time, the rules and regulations surrounding the protection of the ecological environment in mines have been introduced, the compensation mechanism for the ecological environment in mines has been launched, and the supervision and management of the ecological environment in mines has been strengthened. In 2021, The State Council issued the "Carbon Peak Action Plan before 2030", proposing to accelerate the formation of the "carbon peak" and "carbon neutral" action plan for resource conservation and environmental protection, and promising that China's carbon dioxide emissions will not grow before 2030, indicating that China is firmly determined to take the ecological priority, green and low-carbon high-quality sustainable development road.

3. Countermeasures and Suggestions

Although China has actively promoted the transformation of the mining economic model and environmental governance from the national level, and a series of achievements have been made in implementing the relevant provisions, at this stage, the development of China's mining industry and the ecological environment are still mutually restricted and the contradiction is prominent. "Green water and green mountains" and "Jinshan Yinshan" are not opposites, "Jinshan Yinshan" is by no means regardless of the ecological environment and arbitrary exploitation, and "green water and green mountains" is by no means a regression to the state of economic development of primitive society, to achieve economic development and environmental protection have the same goal, that is, to achieve national economic development and meet the objective needs of people yearning for a better life. Both must be balanced. Facing the current situation of shortage of mineral resources and serious pollution of ecological environment in China, it is urgent to correctly deal with the relationship between the two, from conquering and transforming nature to respecting and treating nature, choosing a sustainable health and scientific road with less use of resources and less damage to the environment, so that the overall economic development and the harmony and beauty of nature go hand in hand.

3.1 Develop circular economy and promote energy conservation and emission reduction

Establish and improve policies and regulations to regulate the development and utilization of mineral resources, prohibit indiscriminate mining, avoid damage to the ecological environment as much as possible, and reduce the production of mining waste from the source; Formulate preferential policies to promote the healthy development of the mining circular economy, with zero emissions as the goal, to achieve the harmless disposal and comprehensive reuse of pollutants in the development and production of mineral resources, and in the process of economic development, GDP and mineral resource consumption and environmental degradation "decoupling". At the same time, the rational use of common resources in mining and other industries, the establishment of mineral products production as the center of the circular ecological chain, the construction of the coordination with the ecological chain of related industries of resource recycling cycle model, to promote the coordinated development of economy and ecology.

Energy conservation and emission reduction is an important means to achieve "carbon neutrality". China's energy intensity far exceeds the world average level and is 2-4 times that of developed countries. There is great room for improvement in energy efficiency, and energy conservation and emission reduction should be vigorously promoted. First, it is suggested to strengthen the integration of mineral resources and increase the proportion of large and medium-sized mining areas; Second, it is recommended to gradually reduce the mining and production of mineral resources in megacities, scenic spots, and over-concentrated areas, especially in water-scarce areas, and transfer production capacity appropriately to the locations of large mining enterprises with sufficient water resources and better development conditions and near the market. By optimizing the layout of the mining industry and the structure of mineral resources, adjusting and transforming the high-energy-consuming industrial structure and high-emission production mode in key areas, so as to alleviate the problems of high energy consumption, low efficiency and large pollution caused by the decentralized production of most of China's mineral resources.

3.2 Attach importance to environmental assessment and assessment of protected areas

In the process of exploitation and utilization of mineral resources, the associated harmful elements in the crust of mineral resources are often ignored, and these harmful elements are pollution sources even in the undisturbed state. Therefore, it is suggested that when evaluating the exploitation and utilization of mineral resources, its impact on the surrounding ecological environment should be taken into consideration as an important factor. To evaluate the influence of harmful elements on the surrounding ecological environment in the undisturbed state of mineral resources and in the mining process. At the same time, the environmental bearing capacity should be considered comprehensively. If the bearing capacity of the environment is large and the detailed investigation and exploration of mineral resources have little impact on the ecological environment, the issuance of mining rights can be appropriately relaxed. If the environmental carrying capacity is small, or even in areas with poor ecological environment, such as ecological protection areas and tourist attractions, mineral development activities have a greater impact on the ecology, then the mining of relatively inferior resources should be abandoned, the development planning of mineral resources in the region should be adjusted, and the mining rights should be tightened.

Mining in the protected areas will be allowed, subject to a re-evaluation of the environmental protection areas. The protected area can be roughly divided into core area and general area, in which no mineral resource exploitation activities shall be carried out in the core area. If the minerals urgently needed by the state are found in the core area and need to be developed, it is suggested to weigh the relationship between the protected area and the minerals urgently needed by the state on the basis of following the protection principles, and find out whether the focus of the protected area protection is in conflict with the mineral resource development project. At the same time, it stipulates that enterprises should set up factories in the general area, avoid the phenomenon of "one size fits all", and take effective means to achieve the peaceful coexistence of mining rights and protected areas as far as possible.

3.3 Multi-channel governance to speed up ecological restoration

3.3.1 According to local conditions, classified governance

In ecological governance, we should adopt different governance methods according to the environmental problems arising from different mining and different regions. For the geological environment problems caused by large-scale mining, it is suggested to pay attention to and rectify them, first eliminate the hidden danger of geological disasters, and then carry out backfilling, reclamation and collapse reconstruction according to the actual characteristics of geological environment. For the mining of small and medium-sized mines, it is recommended to control wastewater to protect groundwater from pollution, and at the same time deal with the problem of tailings accumulation, and implement treatment while mining, so as to avoid the point pollution source of small and medium-sized mines becoming linear pollution or planar pollution, and control the impact of ecological environment in a small range. In view of the pollution of water and soil resources caused by the discharge of wastewater and waste gas from metal mining, it is suggested that decontamination should be carried out first, and then land reclamation or afforestation should be carried out according to the regional characteristics to restore the comprehensive stability of the ecosystem in the mining area. For the phenomenon of soil and water loss caused by non-metallic mineral mining, the degradation of ecological environment should be mainly paid attention to. Vegetation restoration or planting crops can be used for soil improvement, or stable shelterbelt ecosystem can be established. For open pit mining, it is recommended to minimize the area of open pit mining, dump and tailings reservoir, so as to reduce the impact area of sand, dust and compaction area of open pit mining, and minimize the impact of mining activities on the ecological environment as much as possible.

3.3.2 Promote the ecological restoration of mines and establish a market-oriented management model

1) Accelerate the process of ecological restoration and management of mines. Generally, the abandoned mines after mining lack effective replacement industries, because they are idle for a long time and the maintenance is not in place, it is easy to appear sustainable degradation. Therefore, it is necessary to follow the local natural conditions and environmental inheritance needs, combined with the mine's own resource characteristics, consider the utilization of abandoned mine land after restoration according to local conditions, carry out overall planning and systematic implementation through "restoration - utilization - transformation", realize the ecological restoration, development and utilization of abandoned mine land, and find the method of ecological balance and coordinated construction. For the abandoned mines located in cities with relatively flat surface, backfill can be used to transform them into building land to promote urban transformation. For non-metallic abandoned mines in plain, remote, light water pollution, and small soil quality loss, land leveling measures can be adopted to transform them into agricultural land, and cultivate local superior crops to restore the production capacity of the land. For the mining parks with good ecological landscape or long mining development history and deep mining culture, they can be transformed into ecological parks, mining parks, geological parks, etc., to promote the sustainable development of mining and tourism economy; For the mines with serious ecological damage, natural restoration should be the main method