Research of mine environment restoration effects and policies in Beijing since 2004

Beijing as the capital of China is adjusting the industrial structures and urban functions from the beginning of twenty-first century. Based on this political background, in the past 10 years about 95.96% of the mines have been shut down since 2004. In this stage, numerous restoration projects as well as supporting policies have been carried out. In order to find out the results of the restoration projects and policies, we surveyed the 1443 mines located in the 13 districts of Beijing from the beginning of 2013 to 2014. Besides surveys on sites, we also interviewed the municipal officials who are in charge of the geological environment management of all the mines in Beijing. In this article, we try to introduce the general conditions of the 1443 mines and discuss the influences of ecological restoration to the geological environment in the mountainous mining areas since 2004. By the end of 2013, about 48.2% of them have been restored or utilized in the environmental friendly ways; about 14.5% of the mines could be restored completely by the natural powers, or only need some slightly artificial assistances. This more or less convinced us that the environmental conditions of the mining ecosystems are evolving in the sustainable direction. It is considered that the coherent policies, serious administrations, and ample deposits are the most critical guarantees to these restoration projects. However, even though the conventional technologies are maturely used in practices of restoring land and vegetation, there are very limited innovations and improvements in the water ecosystem restoration in the mountainous mining areas. The suggestion is more political focus and funds should be given to the water ecosystem restorations and technological innovations.