Key points of compliance in completion and operation of mine projects

Key points of compliance in completion and operation of mine projects

After the completion of a mine project, it is necessary to perform special acceptance, completion acceptance and other procedures, and obtain a safety production license before it can be put into production. Focus should be paid to the following compliance obligations:

1. Complete environmental acceptance

After the completion of a mine project, the construction unit shall, in accordance with the standards and procedures prescribed by laws and regulations, check and accept the supporting environmental protection facilities and prepare an acceptance report. In the process of acceptance of environmental protection facilities, construction units shall truthfully examine, monitor and record the construction and commissioning of environmental protection facilities of construction projects. Except in cases where confidentiality is required according to state regulations, the construction unit shall disclose the acceptance report to the public according to law.

2. Complete the acceptance of soil and water conservation facilities

The construction unit shall, before the completion and acceptance of a mine project, organize a third-party institution to prepare an acceptance report on soil and water conservation facilities. Where the conclusion of the acceptance report of water and soil conservation facilities is that the conditions for acceptance are met, the production and construction units shall organize the completion acceptance inspection of water and soil conservation facilities and form a written acceptance inspection and appraisal of water and soil conservation facilities. Production and construction units shall, after passing the acceptance inspection of water and soil conservation facilities, promptly publicize the materials for acceptance inspection of water and soil conservation facilities on their official websites or other websites known to the public, and submit the materials for acceptance inspection of water and soil conservation facilities to the competent administrative department.

3. Complete acceptance of water intake project and obtain water intake license

Where a mine project water intake project or facility is completed and has been in trial operation for 30 days, the construction unit shall submit relevant materials to the water intake examination and approval authority and apply for a water intake license. The examination and approval authority for water intake shall, within 20 days after receiving the materials, conduct on-site verification of the water intake project or facility and issue opinions on acceptance. For those that pass the acceptance inspection, a water drawing license shall be issued.

4. Complete the acceptance of safety facilities

The construction unit completes all the construction contents in accordance with the approved safety facility design, and if it meets the conditions for completion acceptance, it shall organize the completion acceptance of the safety facilities of the construction project. If the construction unit implements multi-level management, its superior unit with independent legal personality (or company headquarters) can also be responsible for organizing inspection and acceptance. The safety supervision department shall supervise and verify the completion and acceptance activities and acceptance results of mine projects.

5. Complete the acceptance of occupational disease prevention facilities

Before the inspection and acceptance of the occupational-disease-prevention facilities, the construction unit shall work out the inspection and acceptance plan and submit a written report to the work safety supervision and administration department. The principal person in charge of the construction unit or its designated person in charge shall organize occupational health professionals to review the evaluation report on the control effect of occupational disease hazards, check and accept the occupational-disease-prevention facilities, and form review opinions and acceptance opinions. The construction unit shall make a written report on the acceptance process of the occupational-disease-prevention facilities for future reference. The construction project with serious occupational-disease-prevention hazards shall submit a written report to the work safety supervision and administration department.

6. The coal mine project shall carry out joint trial operation

After the completion of a coal mine project, joint trial operation shall be carried out before the completion and acceptance. The project construction unit shall prepare a joint trial operation plan and report it to the provincial coal industry administrative department for the record. After the completion of the joint test run, the construction unit shall prepare a joint test run report.

7. Coal mine projects shall implement capacity replacement requirements

The State Council and the National Development and Reform Commission have stipulated that since 2016, the new coal production capacity reduction and replacement policy has been implemented, and the new coal mine projects have to implement the reduction and replacement, and the coal mine projects need to provide the capacity replacement plan before the application for approval, and the project approval authority will review and approve the capacity replacement plan according to the requirements. In order to promote the acceleration of the construction of advanced capacity coal mines, the state will review and confirm the capacity replacement plan of coal mine projects in 2022, and adjust it from the project approval to the completion acceptance.

8. Complete the project completion acceptance

Where a mine project has been completed in accordance with the approved construction scale, standards, investment and contents, meets the design and production requirements, and environmental protection facilities, soil and water conservation facilities, safety facilities, etc. have been completed in accordance with the requirements and passed the special acceptance inspection, meeting the acceptance conditions, the construction unit shall organize the completion acceptance inspection. After the mine project has passed the acceptance check, the construction unit shall submit the opinions on the completion acceptance check, the rectification report of the enterprise on the completion of the completion acceptance check, the notice of the completion acceptance check (the appraisal letter) and other materials to the competent administrative authority.

9. Obtain safety production license

China implements a safety production licensing system for mining enterprises. Before a mine project is put into operation, it shall apply to the relevant administrative authority for issuing a safety production license. Mining enterprises that have not obtained safety production licenses shall not engage in production activities. It should be noted that coal mine projects and non-coal mine projects should handle safety production permits in accordance with the Measures for the Implementation of Safety Production Licenses for Coal mine Enterprises and the Measures for the Implementation of Safety Production Licenses for non-coal mine Enterprises, respectively.

Some suggestions on compliance management of mining project construction in mining enterprises

In order to effectively prevent and control compliance risks in the construction of mining projects, mining enterprises should focus on the content of sorting out compliance obligations, identifying compliance risks, coping with compliance risks, formulating special guidelines for compliance management, and improving the compliance operation mechanism, etc., and carry out compliance management of mining project construction professionally and accurately, so as to help mine projects enter the production stage at an early date.

(1) Comprehensively sorting out compliance obligations around the regulatory requirements of mine project construction

The first is to systematically sort out the laws, regulations, rules and normative documents in the field of mining project construction, on the basis of doing a good job of combing the laws and policies at the central level, it should also strengthen the combing of local regulations, rules and normative documents in the location of mining rights, and make full reference to the service guidelines issued by government departments.

The second is to sort out and classify the compliance obligations involved in the construction of mine projects in combination with factors such as the timing of construction of mine projects, types of compliance obligations, administrative approval procedures, and form a systematic, complete and practical list of compliance obligations.

The third is to pay timely attention to the progress of the reform of the construction management of mine projects, pay attention to the revision of relevant laws and regulations, policy changes and regulatory developments, and regularly update the list of compliance obligations.

(2) Focusing on the whole process of mine project construction, systematically identifying compliance risks

First, mining enterprises should adopt various methods such as interview research, data reference and case analysis to comprehensively and systematically identify compliance risks according to the specific compliance requirements involved in various administrative approval links in the process of project approval, construction approval and completion acceptance, so as to ensure that risk identification covers the whole process of mine project construction.

Second, the legal basis, form of expression, risk examples and consequences of violations of each compliance risk in the construction process of a mine project are listed in detail, and classified and sorted according to the construction process of a mine project to form a systematic, comprehensive and intuitive compliance risk database.

Third, according to the progress of mine project construction, combined with changes in external laws, regulations and policies, timely revise and update the compliance risk database.

(3) Taking into account risk prevention and project promotion, and responding to compliance risks at different levels

First, in view of the compliance risks in the process of mining project construction, mining enterprises should carry out risk analysis and evaluation on the possibility of occurrence of compliance risks, the degree of risk impact and the degree of corporate control, and form a risk assessment report.

Second, according to the red line of disruptive risks, compliance defects that need to be focused on, general compliance defects and other different situations, compliance risks are divided into high, medium and low levels, and the priority of compliance risk prevention is distinguished. On this basis, a targeted response plan should be formulated, effective measures should be taken to eliminate risks or control risks within an acceptable range, and compliance management can take into account the needs of mine project promotion and compliance supervision.

(2) Formulate special compliance guidelines according to the actual needs of project compliance management

Mining enterprises should focus on the key issues and important links in the project construction management, and formulate special guidelines for compliance management as the action guide for the compliance management of mine project construction. Specific guidelines should focus on the following areas:

First, it is necessary to systematically and comprehensively sort out the mining project construction management process according to the project construction timing and the relationship between the approval items, and clarify the handling requirements and procedures of the administrative approval items in each specific link, so that the relevant departments and personnel of mining enterprises can fully grasp the key points of compliance management in the construction of mining projects.

The second is to clarify the compliance points that should be paid attention to and the compliance responsibilities that need to be performed among various departments and management entities at different levels of mining enterprises; At the same time, strengthen the internal coordination and cooperation of the enterprise to improve the efficiency of compliance work.

The third is to focus on the specific business links of mining project construction, embed risk control measures in a targeted way, embed compliance requirements in the whole process of project implementation, and ensure that compliance management measures and means are effective.

(3) Establish and improve the compliance operation mechanism based on the normal management of project compliance

The first is to establish a compliance review mechanism, and regard compliance review as a necessary procedure involving the formulation of rules and regulations, decision-making of major matters, and signing of important contracts in the construction and management of mine projects.

The second is to establish a rectification mechanism for violations, in view of the problems exposed in the legal compliance review, plug management loopholes by improving rules and regulations and optimizing business processes, and improve the compliance management level of mine project construction.

Third, establish a regular compliance training mechanism. On the one hand, it is necessary to carry out compliance business training for relevant departments and personnel within the enterprise in combination with compliance requirements, work processes, typical cases and difficult problems in the construction of mining projects. On the other hand, it is necessary to pay attention to industry benchmarking, learn the experience and practice of mining project construction compliance management of advanced enterprises in the industry through benchmarking, and timely improve and enhance their own project construction compliance management.