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Shanxi Sinking As Mines Riddle Land

Posted on: Sunday, 28 August 2005, 18:00 CDT

Honeycombs of underground mining tunnels have caused one-seventh of the land in Shanxi Province, which produces nearly one-third of the nation's coal, to subside.

Almost 400,000 people have lost land, shelter or jobs as swathes of land have sunk into the earth after coal was removed from mines underneath.

The provincial research team has found that more than 20,000 square kilometres of land in Shanxi, which has a land area equal to that of the Great Lakes area in North America, have caved in to various extents because of over-mining and bad practice.

"The subsidence took place because we didn't fill the mine tunnels immediately after extracting coal, iron and other minerals," Li Lianji, senior researcher with the Shanxi Provincial Academy of Social Sciences, told China Daily yesterday.

A typical subsidence disaster happened at Xindao Village, in the suburbs of Taiyuan, the provincial capital.

The surface of the village has sunk by 3 metres during the previous five years and nearly all the villagers have moved out as nearly all the fields have become barren due to the subsidence. Crevasses and pits can easily be seen and cattle have also fallen in and died.

Shanxi is not alone with regard to this problem. Subsidence caused by mining has occurred nationwide. Residents of Jiulong, a mining town in Huainan of Anhui Province, had to resettle when coalmining led to massive sinking in the area.

Li urged the government to take efficient measures to curb such subsidence and the environmental impact it causes.

"It's a complicated issue because some farmers have lost land and workers have lost jobs as a result of the ground underneath being hollowed out by mining," said Li.

He suggested that the government should grant special funds to help farmers and workers in the sunken areas with housing, job training, and social security benefits.

"Most importantly, the government should take action now to fill those underground tunnels," said Li.

"In developed countries, it is common practice to refill empty underground mines. But we didn't take any measures to fill those hollowed out mines," said Li. A team of 15 researchers including Li has examined mines nationwide since July 2003 and found that Shanxi Province, the biggest coal supplier, has suffered most from subsidence.

Provincial and local governments have decided to earmark huge amounts of capital to curb subsidence and fill the underground mines. With financial aid from the central government, the province plans to spend 7 billion yuan (US$864 million) over the coming five years. In Taiyuan alone, the total will reach 900 million yuan (US$110 million) within two or three years.

Jin Shanzhong, vice-governor of Shanxi, urged all officials who associated themselves with coal mines to withdraw their investment. The central government has set a deadline for September 22

The government has found that local officials sometimes provide protection for mine owners, even if their operating conditions fail to meet national safety standards.

In Linfen, a city in Shanxi famous for coal production, for example, 51 local officials have been punished because of their involvement in coal mines' operations.

"Cutting officials' ties with coalmining is our priority in improving mine safety and our determination is steely," proclaimed Jin.

In the first seven months of this year, Shanxi witnessed 90 coal mine accidents, which claimed a total of 316 lives.

Shanxi has closed more than 6,000 small mines over the past five years. The province plans to cut the number from 3,800 to approximately 2,000 in five years.

This year the province will begin to phase out small mines with an annual production below 90,000 tons and will no longer approve the operation of new mines whose capacity is less than 300,000 tons a year.

Source: China Daily; North American ed.

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