In 2006, the landscape around Gyama Valley, located almost 70 km from Lhasa, capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region, could be described as post-apocalyptic. Photos released on websites around the world showed a portrait of devastation: large pools of murky water, dead wildlife strewn about and a natural environment almost completely destroyed by mining operations. The incident put the spotlight on the government: How had they allowed mining companies to strip the region of its resources while polluting the environment?
Today, the scene has been transformed, replaced with a panorama of lush green trees and grasslands, new roads and infrastructure, and cleaner mining facilities, giving the local people a better life. The change came about after Tibet Huatailong Mining Development Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of China National Gold Group Corp. (China Gold), arrived in Gyama in 2008 with one mission: clean up the area and establish sustainable mining operations.
Eco-friendly mining
Prior to China Gold's arrival, 15 small privately owned companies had facilities in Gyama. While holding the legal documents to mine, they seriously damaged the region's fragile ecology with their haphazard operations.
In 2008, China Gold was given the green light to exploit Gyama's copper-polymetallic deposit. After more than 40 rounds of negotiations in half a year, China Gold integrated mining rights in Gyama.
Over the past three years, Huatailong has enhanced prospecting efforts. A total of 252 million yuan ($39.87 million) was spent, discovering 4.95 million tons of copper, 530,000 tons of molybdenum, 135 tons of gold, 6,600 tons of silver and 580,000 tons of lead and zinc, the company said.
The first phase of the Gyama project commenced in July 2010 after two years of construction, with environmental protection remaining Huatailong's top priority throughout the project's planning and implementation phase.
Previous mining companies, using outdated techniques and equipment, left several ponds of tailings that allowed waste water to pollute local water sources. Copper levels in the waterways were far beyond the levels of national safety standard.
"These private mining companies were here to make money and got out leaving behind pollution and a damaged environment," said Lukhang Yeshe, Assistant General Manager of Huatailong.
Huatailong spent 3.5 million yuan ($553,797) filling in the open ponds and planting trees on reclaimed land.
Chai Liwei, an engineer at Huatailong, said the company employs the dry discharging technology to dispose of tailings, with waste water dried out and recycled. The technology saves 34,000 tons of water every day.
To cope with polluted rivers and waterways, Huatailong established a sewage disposal plant and invested 27 million yuan ($4.27 million) in reducing the level of copper ion in the available water supply, thus making the water quality meet the national standard.
In order to protect grasslands and reduce dust during transportation of ores, the company spent 200 million yuan ($31.65 million) building a 5.5-km-long underground tunnel. According to Teng Yongqing, General Manager of Huatailong, the tunnel, with an annual delivery capacity of 2 million tons, can deliver products from the mining area directly to the ore processing plants.
In 2011 the company spent 10.44 million yuan ($1.65 million) on greening projects around its mining facilities, and an additional 4.4 million yuan ($696,203) on drip irrigation facilities.
To save energy, Huatailong has installed more than 10,000 square meters of solar energy facilities to provide heating and hot water to the staff apartments, reducing emissions of carbon dioxide of 5,000 tons each year.
Since its establishment, Huatailong has spent an aggregate 180 million yuan ($28.48 million) on environmental protection, accounting for more than 11.7 percent of the project's total investment, much higher than the required proportion of 3 percent by the country.
The latest round of green efforts was in April this year, when the company planted 2,000 aspens in the area.
Common prosperity
Local Tibetan people have also seen their lives improved since the arrival of Huatailong.
Ngawang Tsering, 59, an entrance guard at the mine, used to live a nomadic life with his family, the seven members of whom earned only 20,000 yuan ($3,164.56) annually. Now he alone earns 2,000 yuan ($316.46) each month. His son brings in an additional 5,000 yuan ($791.14) a month as a truck driver for the company. With the added income, the family has bought a new car and a house in Lhasa, the regional capital.
However, local people were initially hesitant to cooperate with Huatailong's mining project. The prospect that the mining operations would bring renewed wealth to the region piqued the locals' interest, but the roar of the heavy machinery only proved to raise doubts. Moreover, memories of previous miners who had left their land barren were still fresh on their minds.
Lukhang Yeshe, a 29-year-old Tibetan from southwest China's Yunnan Province, is now the company's assistant general manager. In 2008, when he started working for Huatailong, he served as an interpreter between Tibetans and the company's staff.
"I was called a 'traitor' by the villagers because I helped people from the inland," he said.
Huatailong took various steps to achieve a rapport between the company and the local people. It started by paying 30.87 million yuan ($4.88 million) of cultivated land compensation and 1.93 million yuan ($305,380) of grassland compensation, which had been defaulted by previous miners. The company also paid 3.5 million yuan ($553,797) to compensate the locals for the livestock that died from pollution.
To fulfill its social responsibility, Huatailong has spent more than 120 million yuan ($18.99 million) on road construction, afforestation and poverty aid.
The company also donated 740,000 yuan ($117,089) to local poor families, financed nine Tibetan students to study in Northeastern University, sent 30 Tibetan staff members to the inland for professional training and donated 550,000 yuan ($87,025) to local students.
To improve local employment and increase the income of local residents, Huatailong hired 253 local Tibetans. To date, there are 294 employees from minority ethnic groups, accounting for 35 percent of the company's total staff, and their per-capita average annual income has reached 45,000 yuan ($7,120.25). In comparison, according to figures from the Bureau of Statistics of the Tibet Autonomous Region, in 2011 the per-capita net income of local farmers and herdsmen was only 4,904 yuan ($775.95).
In December 2009, Huatailong invested 16 million yuan ($2.53 million) in purchasing the transport team of Gyama Town and establishing the Gyama Industrial and Trading Co., with all the 3,850 local residents of 655 families as shareholders. By now the company has granted them 2.51 million yuan ($397,152) in total bonus revenue.
Almost all the managers, drivers and staff members in the trading company are local Tibetans, with an average salary of 4,000 yuan ($632.91) a month. Lukhang Yeshe said many of them have bought their own cars.
Tsering Dekyi, 24, is among the nine students sent to Northeastern University by Huatailong. Previously, she had studied in a university for a semester before her family met with trouble supporting her education.
She later heard that Huatailong would send Tibetan students to study in Northeastern University. She applied to the program and was accepted, majoring in mining engineering. After graduating in 2010, she joined Huatailong, now earning 5,000 yuan ($791.14) a month.
Huatailong also hires local Tibetans to do the planting work, paying each 50-70 yuan ($7.91-11.08) a day. From April to September, the company can offer 60 to 80 such job opportunities.
Taxes paid by Huatailong have greatly improved the financial status of the local government. "Metrorkongka used to be a poverty-stricken county, but after Huatailong integrated the local mining industry, the mining industry has become a pillar industry for Metrorkongka," said Lin Tao, the county Party secretary.
According to figures from Huatailong, in 2011 the company paid 118 million yuan ($18.67 million) in taxes, accounting for 47 percent of the county's total tax revenue.
Lukhang Yeshe has felt closely connected to Huatailong. "If it weren't for Huatailong, our lives wouldn't be this good," he told Beijing Review.(by Beijing Review WangJun)
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