2023, the Central Second Eco-environmental Protection Supervision Group inspected Henan Province and found that the problem of illegal sand excavation and quarrying in Huixian, Weihui and other places in Xinxiang City was prominent, resulting in the destruction of the Zhao Great Wall site, a cultural relic protection unit in Henan Province.
1. Basic information
Huixian and Weihui, Xinxiang City, Henan Province, are located in the hinterland of Taihang Mountains, rich in mineral resources such as mine stones and river sand. In 2000, the Zhao Great Wall Site of the Warring States Period in Henan Province was announced by the People's Government of Henan Province as the third batch of key cultural relics protection units in Henan Province, some of which are located in the mountains at the junction of Huixian and Weihui.
Second, the main problem
is that illegal quarrying destroys the site of the Great Wall of Zhao. The Law on the Protection of Cultural Relics stipulates that no other construction projects or operations such as blasting, drilling and excavation shall be carried out within the scope of protection of cultural relics protection units. If other construction projects or operations such as blasting, drilling and excavation are required due to special circumstances, the safety of cultural relics protection units must be guaranteed, and the consent of the relevant administrative departments of cultural relics and the approval of the people's government must be obtained. In 2018, when the competent mining department of Weihui City handled the mining license for the fourth workshop of Natural Resources Co., Ltd., it did not seek the opinions of the administrative department of cultural relics as required, and included the Tangzhuang Section 2 of the Zhao Great Wall Site, which is 651 meters long, in the mining scope. The company lacked the awareness of the rule of law in the protection of cultural relics and did not guarantee the safety of cultural relics protection units in the mining process, resulting in the destruction of more than 450 meters of Zhao Great Wall site. In addition, the former Xinxiang Plain Tongli Cement Company, the former Chunjiang Group Third Quarry and other enterprises in the process of illegal mining also caused damage to Zhao Changcheng Tangzhuang Section 1 and Zhao Changcheng Changcun Section 1. In 2012, Henan Province confirmed that the three sections of the Great Wall of Zhao, Tangzhuang 1, Tangzhuang 2 and Changcun 1, actually had a total of 3010 meters. Up to now, the site of the Great Wall of Zhao has only 855 meters, and 71.6% of the length of the Great Wall site has been damaged to varying degrees.
Fig. 1 On November 12, 2023, the inspection team conducted a secret investigation and found that the second section of the Great Wall of Zhao was damaged by mining.
Second, the problem of illegal sand excavation in the Shimen River was prominent. Shimen River is located in the central and western part of Huixian County, which is rich in sand and gravel resources. For a long time, the illegal mining of river sand has caused serious damage to the ecological environment of Shimen River. The Measures for the Administration of River Sand Mining in Henan Province stipulates that a licensing system shall be implemented for river sand mining, and the license shall be approved and issued by the water administration department in accordance with its administrative authority. Inspectors found that since 2021, Huixian Ruixiang Machine-made Sand Co., Ltd. and Jinshayuan Building Materials Co., Ltd. have not been licensed for sand mining in the Shimen River, which belongs to the prohibited mining area of 2000 meters downstream of the Xitulou Bridge, and have illegally mined about 1.6 million tons of sand without a license, while Ruixiang Machine-made Sand Co., Ltd. has been illegally mined in the river course. The average depth is about 16 meters, covering an area of about 36 mu and 27 mu respectively.
Fig. 2 On November 7, 2023, the inspection team found that Ruixiang Machine-made Sand Company formed two huge pits for unlicensed sand mining in August
2022, and Xinxiang Water Conservancy Bureau approved the "Sand Mining Plan for the Section from Bali Highway Bridge to Sanhedian Village on Shimen River in Huixian City (2022-2024)". Further delimit the Shimen River prohibited mining area, and require that sand mining operations should be carried out while mining and repairing, and that the river bank should be reinforced and repaired in time during the excavation process, so as to restore the ecology and ensure the smooth flow of the river and the safety of flood control. After the delimitation of the prohibited mining area, the above-mentioned enterprises added about 19 mu and 20 mu of new mining. A large number of remaining wastes are piled up in disorder on the beach, and ecological restoration has not been carried out according to relevant requirements, which seriously damages the ecological environment of the riverbed and affects the safety of flood discharge.
Fig. 3 On November 7, 2023, the inspection team found that the new sand mining area
of Ruixiang Machine-made Sand Company after August 2022 was illegal mining, which seriously damaged the ecological environment. The Mineral Resources Law stipulates that anyone who wishes to explore or mine mineral resources must separately apply for and obtain the right to explore or mine upon approval in accordance with the law, and must go through registration procedures. Since June 2022, Weihui Hehui Mine Engineering Service Co., Ltd. has illegally occupied and excavated about 468000 tons of limestone and other mineral resources in the name of road construction of the South Extension Project of the West Line of Weihui Tourist Road without obtaining any land use and mining procedures, destroying about 190 mu of natural mountain area. The Forest Law stipulates that if it is really necessary to occupy forest land for mineral exploitation, it shall be examined and approved by the competent forestry authorities of the people's governments at or above the county level, and the examination and approval procedures for construction land shall be handled according to law. Weihui Natural Resources Co., Ltd. has not gone through the examination and approval procedures for occupying forest land, and has destroyed natural mountains and forests by long-term cross-border mining outside the scope of mining license. Since 2018, the total area of natural mountains and forests destroyed by cross-border mining in the fourth workshop is about 295.2 mu, including 35.3 mu of forest land.
Figure 4 On November 11, 2023, the inspection team found that the illegal mining of Weihui Hehui Mine Engineering Service Co., Ltd. destroyed the natural mountain
. Illegal cross-border mining
exists in the fourth workshop of Weihui Natural Resources Company. 3. Analysis of
the reasons for the lack of systematic concept and legal thinking in the formulation of sand mining planning in Huixian County, Xinxiang City, and the long-term neglect of supervision over illegal sand mining in rivers; Huixian and Weihui do not have a strong sense of ecological and cultural relics protection, fail to supervise the destruction of ecological environment by illegal mining such as undocumented and cross-border, and fail to investigate and punish the destruction of Zhao Great Wall sites.
The inspection team will further investigate and verify the relevant situation, and do a good job of follow-up supervision as required.
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