264 / 2022-02-18 09:32:54

A Review on: Land Reclamation and Ecological Reconstruction in Pingshuo Opencast Mine from 1986 to 2021

land reclamation, ecological reconstruction, applicable experience

Environmental Science and Engineering > 3. Land Reclamation and Ecology Rehabilitation

Land reclamation was earlier carried out in Pingshuo opencast mine 35 years ago in China, and is having been implemented consistently covering period from 1986 till now. The practice case of integration of mining and land reclamation in the Pingshuo mining area was awarded the “Typical Case of Brand Building of National Central Enterprises in 2019” and the results of ecological construction have been listed by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council as the highlight of the central enterprises practice of the "Two Mountains Theory" in 2020. Aiming to provide applicable experience for researchers,  managers from across the Loess Plateau, and to expect to play a demonstrative and reference role for the ecological construction and ecological industry from across the “Black Triangle” region of Shanxi Province, Shaanxi Province, and Inner Mongolia, this review described the development process of land reclamation and ecological reconstruction in Pingshuo mining area from the planting of grass, shrubs and trees to the restoration of cultivated land, summarized the experience and results of land reclamation and ecological reconstruction, and preliminarily planned the development direction of the future ecological industry. So far, the land reclamation area has reached about 4000 hectares in the dump area, the vegetation coverage rate reached more than 95%, which is much higher than that of the original, and the number of plant species in the mining area was over 213, wild animals 30, insects more than 600, respectively, turning dumps in the mining area that used to be without grass into a tree-lined and vigorous green ecological park. In conclusion, with land reclamation and ecological initiatives undertaken, the effect of ecological reconstruction in dumps is obviously better than that of the original ecology before mining.