XEAL Tech Mining Supports The Fight Against Illegal Rare Earth Mining

Tucked away in the southeastern mountains of Fujian province, the Xianghu has been severely affected by illegal rare earth mining. At one of the illegal mines identified by villagers, trees have been toppled and leaking waste barrels have contaminated the ground. End Quote

(1888PressRelease) September 02, 2011 - Illegal mining is on the rise in China and are a major mining corporations with solid environmental strategies are now looking into how to fend of this environmentally dangerous mining.

Tucked away in the southeastern mountains of Fujian province, the Xianghu has been severely affected by illegal rare earth mining. At one of the illegal mines identified by villagers, trees have been toppled and leaking waste barrels have contaminated the ground.

At another illegal mine, polluted water has been diverted to the villagers' farms, destroying rice fields and killing off a large number of fish and shrimp.

Illegal rare earth mines were set up in the region about three years ago. The illegal miners use ammonium sulfate and oxalate to extract rare earth metals, while contaminated water is pumped into farms without being treated.

Since then, more than 100 local residents have volunteered to patrol the village, looking for illegal mines. The volunteers have resorted to vandalism, destroying water pipes and equipment belonging to illegal mines after locating them. However, they always end up coming back.

A crackdown by the local government fared no better, as a majority of the miners managed to flee when the government's enforcers came. They return to their mines after the enforcers left.

A report from the Hushan township government showed that another four villages in the region have also been affected by illegal rare earth mines.

Guo Zhibiao, an inspector from the Land and Resources Bureau of Yongding county, said it has been very difficult to halt the exploitation of the region's rare earth metal reserves.

In a raid conducted lately local inspection teams have identified 12 illegal mines, issued 28 production-halting notices, demolished 23 temporary housing units built for the miners and damaged 31 generators and 64 settling ponds this year.

Unfortunately, since there is no federal regulations specifically targeting illegal rare earth metal mining, local law enforcement can only punish miners based on regulations regarding damage to forests and other national resources, which typically bring only mild administrative punishments.

Under regulations passed by the region's forestry authorities, miners only have to pay a fine of 10 yuan ($1.6) for every square meter of forest that they damage.

XEAL Tech Mining is supporting a joint effort by several leading mining corporations in China to curve illegal mining and to lobby the government for harder punishments for illegal miners.

.. About XEAL Tech Mining ..
XEAL Tech Mining is involved in the location and development of rare earth and gold properties. Founded in 2007 XEAL Tech Mining searches for and acquires interests in related global rare earth and gold-focused projects through means as joint ventures, direct investment, explorations and stock-option agreements.

.. Press XEAL Tech..
Xu Wang, Press Information Officer
Email: xu.wang ( @ ) xealtech dot com

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