ProductTo address the historical arrears and current contradictions in the ecological restoration of mines in China; Old Accounts” Not yet returned,“ New Account” On October 22, 2019, the Land and Space Ecological Restoration Department of the Ministry of Natural Resources issued the "Opinions on Establishing Incentive Mechanisms to Accelerate the Promotion of Mine Ecological Restoration (Draft for Comments)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Draft for Comments") to publicly solicit opinions from the society, in order to overcome the bottleneck of insufficient funding and accelerate the promotion of mine ecological restoration. The draft for soliciting opinions proposes to encourage comprehensive restoration and utilization of mining land. Especially, it is proposed to make reasonable use of abandoned mining soil and stone materials. And make specific regulations:
For open-pit mines with historical legacy, the soil and stone materials generated by restoration projects such as slope reduction, load reduction, and elimination of geological hazards can be used for this restoration project free of charge by the restoration subject. If there is indeed surplus, it can be sold to the outside world. Based on scientific uation and demonstration, the county-level natural resources department shall follow the "; One mine, one strategy; Principle: Simultaneously develop utilization and restoration plans, submit them to the municipal natural resources department for review and approval before implementation;
If it involves external sales, it must be organized and implemented by the county-level people's government, included in the public resource trading platform, and all sales proceeds shall be used for local ecological restoration.
At present, there are a huge number of abandoned mines in China, and the situation of loss of responsible parties is severe. How to reduce the cost of mine restoration and make the restoration enterprises balance their income and expenditure has become a hot and difficult topic in current mine restoration! Especially for the sale of sand and gravel aggregates prepared from waste rock generated during the restoration process of abandoned mines; Legitimacy” The problem urgently needs to be solved. The draft for soliciting opinions is of great significance. With the official release of this document, it will provide policy support for the ecological restoration of abandoned mines in China, and the ecological restoration of mines will have a continuous supply of resources; Funds” Source,“ Take it from the mountain and use it for the mountain;. At that time, the spring of mine restoration is bound to come!
To address the historical arrears and current contradictions in the ecological restoration of mines; Old Accounts” Not yet returned,“ New Account” In accordance with the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, there are outstanding issues that need to be addressed; Regarding the construction of an environmental governance system led by the government, with enterprises as the main body, and with the participation of social organizations and the public; According to the requirements,follow“ Who fixes, who benefits; Principle: By granting incentive mechanisms such as the right to use natural resource assets for a certain period of time, attracting investment from all parties, promoting market-oriented operation, development oriented governance, and scientific utilization, and accelerating the ecological restoration of mines, the following opinions are proposed.
1. Verify the current land use status and land type of the mining area based on the actual situation
Local natural resources authorities at all levels should conduct a comprehensive investigation of the current status and ownership of land use in mining areas in conjunction with the Third National Land Survey. For agricultural land that cannot be restored due to mining subsidence or other reasons, after verification by the provincial natural resources department in conjunction with relevant departments and obtaining the consent of the land rights holder, and after approval by the Ministry of Natural Resources, it can be changed to unused land and included in the national land spatial planning. Local governments will organize ecological restoration and comprehensive utilization according to local conditions.
2. Scientifically formulate natural resource utilization plans for mining areas
To carry out ecological restoration of mines, it is necessary to strengthen the leading role of national spatial planning and control. When formulating national spatial planning, local governments at all levels should fully consider the current land use status, resource utilization potential, soil environmental quality, and suitability for ecological protection and restoration in historical legacy mining areas and abandoned mining areas for production and construction. They should respect the opinions of land rights holders, combine ecological function restoration and subsequent resource development and utilization, industrial development, and other needs, and follow the principles of agriculture, construction, water, and retention. They should reasonably determine the scale, structure, layout, and timing of various spaces such as agricultural land, construction land, and ecological land within the mining area, formulate plans for mine system restoration and comprehensive resource utilization, and optimize the national spatial pattern of the mining area.
III. Encourage comprehensive restoration and utilization of mining land
◆ If the abandoned state-owned construction land of historical mines is planned to be converted into commercial construction land after restoration, it is allowed to use it as a whole under the premise of complying with national spatial planning; Bundle” Form: Determine the same restoration subject and land use rights holder through open competition for the mine ecological restoration plan, land development and utilization plan, and land supply plan, and grant them a certain period and proportion of operating construction land use rights. Sign ecological restoration agreements and land transfer contracts separately;
◆ After restoration, if it is intended to be used as state-owned agricultural land, the municipal or county people's government or its authorized department may determine the restoration subject in the form of an agreement, and both parties shall sign a contract for the contracting and operation of state-owned agricultural land to engage in planting, forestry, animal husbandry or fishery production;
◆ For those who plan to develop franchise projects after restoration, according to the relevant management regulations of franchising, the restoration subject may have priority in obtaining the operating rights. For collective construction land in abandoned mining land left over from history, collective economic organizations can invest in restoration on their own or attract social capital to participate.After restoration, if it meets the industrial, commercial and other operational purposes determined by the national spatial planning, it can be leased or transferred for the development of related industries, and the responsibilities related to ecological restoration should be clearly stated in the leasing, leasing and transfer contracts..
For land parcels included in the list of soil pollution risk control and remediation, if their use is adjusted to residential, public management, and public service land, they should meet the requirements of risk control and achieve the remediation goals.
Fourth, implement differentiated land supply
Encourage various regions to develop tourism, comprehensive agricultural development, elderly care services and other industries on the land after mining restoration based on national spatial planning.
◆ If the development of tourism and elderly care services involves permanent construction land, it shall be managed according to the construction land in accordance with the law;
◆ Those who utilize the natural landscape of mining areas and land for agriculture, animal husbandry, and fishery planting and breeding may not be requisitioned (reclaimed) or converted, and shall be managed according to their current use;
◆ The use of state-owned land for non-profit education, scientific research, sports, public culture, medical and health care, social welfare and other construction land projects that comply with the "Catalogue of Allocated Land" can provide land use rights through allocation in accordance with relevant regulations;
◆ Other entities that meet the conditions for land supply under the agreement may have priority in obtaining land use rights under the same conditions.
Fifth, activate production and construction of existing construction land in mines
Encourage the simultaneous mining and restoration of production and construction mines. If the abandoned construction land of the enterprise is restored to agricultural land according to the national spatial planning, it can be managed as a pilot project for the reclamation and utilization of historical industrial and mining abandoned land. After passing the inspection according to regulations, the vacated construction land scale will be prioritized for the construction land quota required by the enterprise for new mining activities within the province, and the surplus quota can be circulated and used within the province; After being repaired into arable land and passing the inspection according to regulations, it can be prioritized for the balance of occupation and compensation of newly occupied arable land for mining activities of the enterprise. The surplus indicators of supplementary arable land can be transferred and used within the province.
Under the premise of complying with the national spatial planning, with the approval of the people's government at or above the county level with approval authority, mining enterprises may make up for the land transfer price at the market price and use the legally obtained state-owned construction land for commercial, service and other operational purposes after restoration.
◆ For the production and construction of mines, if abandoned state-owned construction land is restored and used for the development of new industries and new business models supported by the state, it can continue to be used for its original purpose with the approval of the people's government at or above the county level, and the transition period is 5 years;
◆ After the transition period expires, the land use procedures shall be re processed through an agreement based on the new use and market price in accordance with the law. Encourage production and construction of mines to cooperate with social capital for ecological restoration and utilization of mines.
Sixth, promote the trading of land indicators for mine restoration
Abandoned construction land or unused land left over from historical mines that have been restored to arable land can be included in the supplementary arable land reserve pool and circulated within the province after passing the acceptance inspection according to relevant regulations; The construction land quota for the restoration of construction land to agricultural land can be transferred within the province. Social capital invested in the restoration of historical legacy mines can obtain various indicators of circulation income in accordance with relevant regulations or contractual agreements.
7. Reasonably utilize abandoned mine soil and stone materials
For open-pit mines with historical legacy, the soil and stone materials generated by restoration projects such as slope reduction, load reduction, and elimination of geological hazards can be used for this restoration project free of charge by the restoration subject. If there is indeed surplus, it can be sold to the outside world. The county-level natural resources department shall, based on scientific uation and demonstration, follow the "; One mine, one strategy; Principle: Simultaneously develop utilization and restoration plans, and implement them after approval by the municipal natural resources department. If it involves external sales, it must be organized and implemented by the county-level people's government, included in the public resource trading platform, and all sales proceeds shall be used for local ecological restoration.
Eighth, Strengthen Supervision and Management
Natural resource management departments at all levels should strengthen work guidance, do a good job in daily supervision and management, establish and improve a supervision mechanism involving the government, mining enterprises, social investors, and the public, explore the establishment of a system for repairing enterprise integrity archives and credit accumulation, and especially strengthen the supervision of agricultural land quality formed by mining restoration and the supervision of projects involving the disposal of waste soil and stone materials, to prevent the occurrence of various violations and illegal problems.
The natural resources authorities of each province (region, city) may formulate specific implementation measures based on local conditions. In case of major policy issues during the implementation process, promptly report and seek approval from the department.
Before the completion of the national spatial planning, the above-mentioned restoration work can be carried out based on existing overall land use planning, urban and rural planning, etc.
The historical legacy mines referred to in this opinion refer to mines where the responsible party for mine restoration and management has been lost due to historical reasons and should be repaired and managed by local governments. This specifically includes two types of situations: first, mines whose mining rights have been lost before the implementation of the deposit system for geological environment governance and restoration; Secondly, after the implementation of the deposit system for geological environment governance and restoration of mines, for mines that are closed due to policy reasons and at the time of closure, the local government has clearly communicated with the mining rights holder that the government is responsible for restoration and governance, the state-owned land use rights involved will be reclaimed simultaneously.
