Strengthening and standardizing ecological restoration in mining areas in Shaanxi

The "Notice on Further Strengthening and Standardizing the Ecological Restoration of Mining Areas" in Shaanxi Province was recently issued. The purpose of the notice is to thoroughly implement the national strategic deployment on ecological civilization construction, further clarify the responsibilities of all parties, enhance governance effectiveness, and lay the foundation for promoting the green transformation and high-quality development of the province's mining industry. A related person in charge of the Provincial Department of Natural Resources introduced that the notice places the preparation and implementation of the "Mining Area Ecological Restoration Plan" at the core, emphasizing its importance as a basis for supervision. It is required that the preparation of the plan must strictly adhere to the latest national standards and industry norms such as the "Technical Specifications for Land Reclamation and Ecological Restoration of Coal Mines," to ensure the advanced nature of restoration technology and the targeted measures. The notice explicitly states that the county-level competent department must complete the audit and disbursement of 30% of the engineering prepayment within 10 working days after the mining right holder submits the next year's governance plan for filing. In the acceptance phase, it requires the municipal competent department to promptly organize applicable acceptance inspections and clearly states that mines with "no mining activities or changes" will no longer be inspected, reducing the burden on enterprises and grassroots organizations. Based on strictly implementing the rules on the use of fund allocation, the notice introduces a more flexible and practical mechanism for deferring fund withdrawal. For mines with normal production and fund account balances sufficient to cover future three years of governance expenses, after application and strict review, the next year's fund withdrawal can be deferred. The policy also specifies that this mechanism does not apply to mines that will be closed within three years, ensuring the financial security of closed-pit governance. The notice actively guides the integration of ecological restoration of mining areas with broader development strategies, encouraging mining enterprises to use funds to carry out concentrated and continuous improvement of agricultural land within mining areas and rural ecological restoration, and requiring the addition of related feasibility analysis and specific measures chapters in the plan. In particular, incorporating the requirements for the protection of arable land and permanent basic farmland into the plan, encouraging eligible areas to implement comprehensive land improvement throughout the region, making mining area restoration a significant driving force for optimizing national land space and rural revitalization.