Insight | China Minmetals' ecological response

China Minmetals Integrates Green Development Throughout the Entire Mineral Development Process, Promoting Mines to Say Goodbye to Traditional Extensive Mining Models, Accelerating the Transition from “Gray Mining” to “Green Empowerment,” Crossing from “Resource Consumption” to “Recycling,” and Forming a Batch of Replicable and Promotable Green Mine Benchmarks

Text | Ma Jingyu

Is mineral development destined to come at the expense of the ecological environment?

From the “Green Rebirth” of the century-old tungsten mine in South Hunan to the industrial marvel of the salt lakes in Qinghai, from the lush green mountains of the Andes in Peru to the mushroom grass fields of Papua New Guinea… China Minmetals Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “China Minmetals”) has actively integrated the concept of green development into the entire industry chain from exploration, mining, and smelting to ecological restoration, delivering an “ecological answer sheet” to the world.

Aerial view of Yaogangxian Mining Area (photo data) Eu Qunmin

** Multi-Mine Collaboration Paints a Picture of Green Transformation**

As a leading global metal mineral enterprise group, China Minmetals has formed an integrated full industry chain advantage encompassing “resource exploration, design and construction, development and operation, smelting and processing, trade logistics, technology industry, and financial capital,” and is comprehensively promoting “main business core, industry repositioning, resource integration.”

China Minmetals established a Carbon Peak and Carbon Neutrality Leadership Group led by the Party Secretary and Chairman, scientifically planning various carbon peak initiatives. The group’s Safety and Environmental Protection Department, Strategic Development Department, and other relevant units coordinate efforts, consolidating ecological and environmental responsibilities at all levels, guiding mines to adhere to ecological protection red lines, and steadily advancing key tasks such as energy conservation, carbon reduction, and ecological restoration to achieve tangible results.

In recent years, China Minmetals has embedded green development into the entire mineral development process, helping its mines bid farewell to traditional extensive mining models, accelerating the shift from “gray mining” to “green empowerment,” crossing from “resource consumption” to “recycling,” and establishing a batch of replicable and promotable green mine benchmarks.

In South Hunan, mines are reborn with a green new look, vividly illustrating China Minmetals’ green transformation.

As the cradle of China’s tungsten industry, Hunan Yaogangxian Mining has witnessed a century of glorious mining but also bears heavy historical debt—over 79125.1T tons of block tailings long lingering in the mountains, causing water pollution and withered vegetation.

Faced with this situation, Yaogangxian Mining invested over 8B yuan to upgrade transportation hardware, formed a Party member assault team to optimize software, solving tailings transportation difficulties, increasing daily processing capacity from 1,000 to 4,000 tons; adopted “net hanging + soil spray” technology to achieve vegetation cover on tailings piles with a height difference of 539 meters, using 527 anchors to secure slope safety barriers; invested 420 million yuan in water environment management, built two sewage treatment plants, restoring fish and shrimp in surrounding rivers and ensuring clear water flows. Today, over 280k square meters of re-vegetation blankets the mountains, six mining parks become leisure spots for employees, and the century-old tungsten mine dons a “green new look.”

Similarly, in South Hunan, Shizhuquan Nonferrous Metals Co., Ltd. uses technology as a brush to paint a new picture of resource, industry, and ecological synergy. Known as the “World Nonferrous Metal Museum,” Shizhuquan faces the global challenge of developing low-grade associated minerals. Through continuous research, it has developed a series of core technologies centered on the “Shizhuquan Method,” increasing tungsten recovery from 26.8% to over 70%, revitalizing over 280k tons of low-grade associated mineral resources. In ecological restoration, Shizhuquan has invested continuously for twelve years, completing 25 ecological restoration projects, restoring over 2,560 acres of ecological area and 45 acres of wetlands, innovating “microbial restoration + plant soil fixation” technology, turning abandoned tailings into lush mining parks; in energy saving and carbon reduction, technological improvements have achieved annual carbon reductions of 5,500 tons, with mineral processing plants replacing traditional steel balls with nano-ceramic balls, significantly reducing energy consumption per unit product. It has been awarded the “Environmental Green Flag” in Hunan for three consecutive years, setting a benchmark for industry green development.

Hunan Xintianling Tungsten Industry, positioning itself as a “mine within the city,” has solved historic ecological problems and created a green model of ecological and cultural integration. Addressing the ecological scars left by unregulated private mining, Xintianling Tungsten invested over 68 million yuan to reclaim and green abandoned tailings and mining sites, successfully revegetating about 730 acres, transforming dusty old mining areas into lush green spaces. In resource utilization, it promoted “deep hole staged mining + backfilling,” increasing ore recovery from 50% to over 87%, constructing a dual-cycle tailings utilization system, reducing tailings discharge by 3.6 million tons, and generating approximately 150 million yuan in downstream economic benefits.

** Diverse Minerals Bloom with Green Development Vitality**

Not limited to South Hunan, China Minmetals’ green practices span the entire country and cover multiple mineral sectors.

In Heilongjiang, China Minmetals Graphite focuses on national strategic resource security, innovating the “small mine into large mine” integration model, consolidating scattered graphite rights into the world’s largest crystalline graphite production base. It has built an industry-leading green, low-carbon, intelligent mine, establishing a full-process control system of “ore flow, data flow, energy flow,” and innovating the “carbon reduction through carbon” concept, creating the first “green low-carbon industrial demonstration park” nationwide, implementing “wind, solar, hydro, and energy storage” integration, reducing nearly 3,000 tons of carbon annually; during the “14th Five-Year Plan,” over 250k square meters of ecological restoration have been completed, with over 12 million yuan invested in governance, and breakthroughs achieved in ultra-high purity graphite purification, overcoming foreign technical bottlenecks, transforming from “resource advantage” to “technological advantage.”

In Hebei, Handan Xing Mining Beiminghe Iron Mine has high-quality completed ecological restoration of subsidence areas, leveling 114k square meters and covering 104.5k square meters with soil, implementing rain and sewage diversion and greening projects, maintaining the “National Green Mine” title for six consecutive years, and being rated as a Class A key industry enterprise in Hebei in 2024; in Qinghai, leveraging the unique resources of the Qarhan Salt Lake, it promotes comprehensive salt lake resource utilization, breaking through key extraction technologies for potassium, lithium, and magnesium, building an “intelligent salt lake” industrial internet platform, achieving unmanned salt harvesting and full-process automation, and developing salt lake eco-tourism, turning the “life forbidden zone” into a 4A scenic area, achieving ecological protection and industrial development in a win-win situation.

** Green Overseas, Practicing the Community of Shared Future for Humanity**

China Minmetals also deeply integrates ecological protection, people’s livelihood improvement, and industrial empowerment in overseas projects, demonstrating the profound connotation of a community of shared future for mankind through practical actions.

In the Apurímac region of Peru, the Las Bambas Mine, led by the “Bambas Heart” plan, has taken a sustainable development path of ecological and people’s livelihood co-prosperity. For example, relying on the “Family Agriculture Project,” it supports 22 communities and 2,540 households to improve planting techniques, trial planting high-altitude-adapted snow peas to optimize planting structures; supports 34 communities in planting over 1.9 million trees, restoring the Andes ecology while expanding income channels through edible mushroom cultivation, using green plants to protect the highland’s pure land. It also invested about 80 million yuan to build the Kutuktae Bridge, fulfilling the local people’s 60-year hope and benefiting over 50k residents.

In Papua New Guinea, China Metallurgical Reimu uses advanced wet smelting technology with high-pressure acid leaching to achieve low-grade laterite ore green and efficient development, saving over 500k tons of standard coal annually and reducing CO2 emissions by about 1.55 million tons, with zero wastewater discharge from ore washing; introducing mushroom grass technology for mine reclamation, establishing over a thousand square meters of mushroom grass test fields, exploring a new path of ecological restoration and livelihood improvement, protecting local biodiversity and providing new income opportunities for residents.

Across the vast African continent, China Minmetals drives green development through “mining production increase” and “community co-construction,” benefiting more local residents. In Congo (Kinshasa), the Kinséville Mine improves healthcare infrastructure, building seven medical centers and clinics, planning 33 community public welfare projects by 2025, benefiting over 260k people; in Botswana, the Koma Koa Mine develops infrastructure such as water supply, healthcare, and transportation, establishing a dedicated community development fund, hosting annual cycling races to raise funds for local schools, improving desert ecology while solving livelihood issues.

(Author’s unit: China Minmetals Safety and Environmental Protection Department)■