Governance has shown results in recent years

——Ganzhou City has gained good experience in the treatment of abandoned rare earth mines

In recent years, Ganzhou City has resolutely implemented President Xi Jinping's ecological civilization ideology, firmly established the concept of "green mountains and clear waters are as valuable as mountains of gold and silver", and regarded the protection and governance of mining geological environment as a guarantee project for achieving sustainable development of mining economy and a livelihood project for improving ecological environment. Through practical actions, it has accelerated the management of abandoned rare earth mines and achieved phased results, making positive contributions to the construction of the national ecological civilization pilot zone. As of the end of November this year, the cumulative governance area of the city is 90.84 square kilometers, including 19.1 square kilometers in 2017 and 14.57 square kilometers from January to November this year.

——Raise your position and push at a high level. The management of abandoned rare earth mines is a tough task, and the party committees and governments at all levels in our city attach great importance to it. Li Bingjun, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee, has led the heads of relevant units directly under the city to conduct on-site research and supervision on this work multiple times, and has held several special meetings to study and deploy it, requiring all regions and departments to regard this work as a political task and take practical and effective measures to promote it. Deputy Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee and Mayor Zeng Wenming has held several special arrangement meetings and scheduling meetings, requiring all regions and departments to focus on coordination and scheduling, supervise the implementation of measures, strictly implement the "regular scheduling system", and ensure the completion of tasks according to deadlines and requirements. The municipal government has held multiple special meetings to study and arrange, and has conducted in-depth inspections and guidance on project sites. Our city has established a comprehensive environmental management working group for abandoned rare earth mines, with the deputy mayor in charge of the municipal government as the group leader, and mining management, environmental protection, water conservation, forestry, land and other units as members. With the high-level promotion of the municipal party committee and government, the city and county levels work together closely, and various functional departments work closely together to promote the management of abandoned rare earth mines.

——Conduct a comprehensive investigation to determine the bottom line. Due to the long history of mining, there have been cases in our city where the location, area, and responsibility of abandoned rare earth mines are unclear. To this end, our city has formulated a work plan for investigation and verification, clarifying work principles, basis, standards, and scope, organizing technical forces, and conducting on-site investigations and point by point verifications of abandoned rare earth mines in the entire area three times, forming the "Ganzhou Rare Earth Mining Co., Ltd. Mining Rights Certificate Abandoned Rare Earth Mines (Points) Area Verification Report" and the "Ganzhou City Abandoned Rare Earth Mines Geological Environment Investigation Report". It is reported that there are a total of 93.88 square kilometers of abandoned rare earth mines in our city, including 54.06 square kilometers inside the certificate and 39.82 square kilometers outside the certificate.

——Scientific division and clear responsibility. On the basis of a thorough understanding of the situation, our city has issued a notice to decompose and implement the task of managing abandoned rare earth mines within the certificate to the governments of each county (city, district) and Ganzhou Rare Earth Mining Co., Ltd., according to the division before and after the establishment of Ganzhou Rare Earth Mining Co., Ltd. Outside the certificate, it is clearly stated that the governments of each county (city, district) are responsible for the management. At the same time, the municipal government, county-level government, and Ganzhou Rare Earth Mining Co., Ltd. jointly signed a responsibility agreement to further implement governance responsibilities.

——Take multiple measures to raise funds. To solve the problem of funding shortage, our city actively seeks support and has organized the application of a batch of abandoned rare earth mine environmental governance projects, which have received a total of 850 million yuan in national subsidies; Nominated for the national pilot program for ecological protection and restoration of mountains, rivers, forests, farmlands, and lakes, and received 2 billion yuan in central basic funding and 350 million yuan in funding for the management of abandoned rare earth mines; In the context of tight local finances, cities and counties have cumulatively invested over 500 million yuan in supporting funds. According to statistics, only 10 abandoned rare earth mine management projects supported by central funds have managed 16.7 square kilometers of abandoned rare earth mines. At the same time, in accordance with the principle of "whoever governs benefits", our city actively encourages private capital to participate in governance.

——Strengthen supervision and accelerate progress. The Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government have led teams to conduct special inspections on site multiple times, dispatched and resolved relevant issues, and held talks with the main officials of Longnan, Xinfeng, Dingnan, Xunwu and other county governments. The Office of the Environmental Management Group for Abandoned Rare Earth Mines in the City has criticized the county governments of Xunwu and Longnan by name. For key projects, the Municipal Mining Management Bureau has dispatched five on-site supervision teams composed of bureau and technical personnel to provide technical guidance at the project construction site, supervise the construction units to arrange the construction period reasonably, and effectively accelerate the progress. Our city has also implemented a monthly notification system to criticize project units that fail to fulfill their responsibilities and make slow progress in governance, effectively eliminating phenomena such as fear, slowness, falsehood, mediocrity, and dispersion.

——Establish mechanisms to ensure long-term effectiveness. Our city has established a coordination group for the comprehensive management of rare earth mining ecological protection. Based on the investigation of the geological environment, soil erosion status, vegetation restoration status, ecological environment, and soil and water pollution status of rare earth mines in the city, the "Ganzhou Rare Earth Mining Ecological Protection Comprehensive Management Plan" has been formulated, providing guidance for the systematic solution to the ecological damage caused by rare earth mining. At the same time, the study drafted the management measures for the post management of the environmental governance project of abandoned rare earth mines, clarifying the management subject at the institutional level, implementing management funds, refining management measures, effectively ensuring the effectiveness of environmental governance of abandoned rare earth mines, and promoting the coordinated development of rare earth resource development and utilization and mine ecological environment protection.

Through the above methods, our city has explored various governance models such as "forest (fruit) - grass - fishing (animal husbandry)", "pig swamp forest (fruit)", and industrial parks. In the former abandoned rare earth mining area, Xinfeng County has developed ecological orchards for navel oranges and bayberries, Dingnan County has established vegetable bases, Xunwu County has built photovoltaic power plants, Xunwu, Anyuan, Dayu, Dingnan, Longnan and other counties have built industrial parks, developed 10500 acres of industrial construction land, and achieved good ecological, economic and social benefits. Through the implementation of vegetation restoration and terrain improvement projects, the vegetation coverage rate in the mining area has increased from 4% before treatment to over 70% after treatment. Soil erosion has been curbed, and geological hazards have been eliminated. The abandoned rare earth mine butterfly, which used to have ravines and sparse vegetation, has become an industrial base, ecological orchard, and mountain water oasis, presenting a new scene of beautiful mountains and clear waters, abundant fruits, and numerous factories. The safety of life and property of the people in the mining area has been effectively guaranteed, their production and living conditions have been improved, and their happiness index has been enhanced, which has effectively promoted social harmony and stability, and prospered the local economy. (Zhang Shiwen, Yang Shuming, reporter Zhang Qingyun)