Yantai Targets?Over 90% Green Mines by Year-End 2025
On February 21, the Information Office of Yantai Municipal People's Government held the sixth press conference of the Three Core Drivers: Yantai's Commitment series. Yantai boasts abundant mineral resources. Under the current trend of green and low-carbon development, Yu Lin, Party Leadership Group Member and Deputy Director of the Yantai Municipal Bureau of Natural Resources and Planning, introduced Yantai’s supervision and management efforts in the mining sector.
Mineral resources play a crucial role in economic and social development, but their exploration must adhere to scientific, standardized, and sustainable principles. This commitment serves as the ?guiding principle and the final goal for the Yantai Municipal Bureau of Natural Resources and Planning in strengthening mineral resource management. Currently, mine construction across the city is steadily advancing toward ?green, efficient, and safe development, striving to achieve the integration of ecological, economic, and social benefits.
Yantai is actively promoting green exploration to establish the Yantai Model. The principles of green development are integrated throughout the entire mineral exploration, including project initiation, design, implementation, evaluation, and daily oversight of exploration rights. The local geological prospecting units and scientific research institutes are organized to develop and apply advanced green exploration technologies, such as single-base multiple-hole drilling, on-site oil spill collection systems, and mudless drilling techniques, minimizing ecological impact. As of now, Yantai has two projects recognized as national-level green exploration demonstration projects, three projects designated as provincial-level green exploration demonstration projects, and six projects listed as typical green exploration cases by the Shandong Provincial Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources, all ranking among the top in the province. By 2025, the city will continue to expand its green exploration demonstration projects through the selection and promotion of best practices, achieving a harmonious balance between mineral exploration and ecological conservation.
Yantai is accelerating green mine construction to harmonize ecological preservation and economic growth, intensifying efforts to improve comprehensive development and utilization of mineral resources. Driven by the national-level green mines, such as the Sanshandao Gold Mine and Xiadian Gold Mine, mining enterprises are encouraged to increase technological investment, progressively achieving the green mine standards of eco-friendly mining environments, scientific extraction methods, efficient resource utilization, digital management systems, standardized safety protocols, standardized corporate governance, and harmonious community relations. Currently, Yantai has established ?27 green mines, and at least ?16 additional green mines are planned for completion this year, ensuring that over 90% of the mines in Yantai will be classified as green mines.
The city has been actively restoring abandoned mines to revive its natural landscapes. Over the years, the Yantai Municipal Bureau of Natural Resources and Planning has systematically rehabilitated 355 abandoned mining sites, covering 3,892.44 hectares, significantly improving vegetation coverage, curbing soil erosion, and yielding ecological and social benefits. In 2024, the city acquired the approval of the Ecological Restoration Demonstration Project of the Historical Abandoned Mine in the Shandong Huang-Bohai Coastal Zone (Yantai Section), China’s first ??Coastal Zone Mine Restoration Demonstration Project and ??Land-Sea Integrated Mine Restoration Demonstration Project with provincial and national fiscal grants of RMB ?400 million. Yantai will take three years to organize the implementation of the project, restore the abandoned mine area of 1,052 hectares, and enhance the city’s ecological protection and restoration. In 2025, the ecological restoration of abandoned mines will continue to be promoted, and 560 hectares of restoration will be treated within the year.
Reported by Shandian News Journalist Liu Mojin
