Ecological restoration of mineland with particular reference to the metalliferous mine wasteland in China: A review of research and practice

Abstract

Despite a principal contributor to the rapid economic growth, the mining industry in China produced a large amount of wasteland and caused water pollution and soil erosion as well as other environmental damages. In 2002, this industry generated 265.4 Mt tailings, 130.4 Mt gangue and 107.8 Mt smelting slags. The degraded land associated with mining is estimated to be 3.2 Mha by the end of 2004, deteriorating the land shortage of China. Restoration of mine wasteland began in late 1970s but the restoration process was sluggish. The overall restoration rate (the ratio of reclaimed land area to the total degraded land area) of mine wasteland was some 10–12% with a higher rate for coal mine spoils but a lower rate for metal-mined derelict land. From 1994 to 2004, 149 research papers were published about the restoration of China's mining wasteland, of which 70 were on metal-mined land and 61 on the non-metal-mined land. Although 37 institutions in China were involved in the restoration research, only a few remained active and productive. Metal-mined derelict land is often more metal toxic and deficient of macronutrients and is tougher for revegetation. Many substrate amelioration techniques were proposed and tolerant plant species were tested for use of reclamation of the metal-mined tailings. Five hyperaccumulator species have been reported in China for the potential use in phytoremediation. However, these accomplishments were all at laboratory or small-scale field demonstration stage and still far from the practical use in reality. To accelerate the restoration and utilization of mine wasteland, several recommendations are put forward in this review. Above these suggestions, the commitment and efficiency of the government at all levels are vital.