Schematic of the landslide in Shanyang County, Shaanxi

 

　　A sudden landslide has exposed the vanadium mining industry in Shanyang County, Shangluo City, Shaanxi Province, deep in the Qinling Mountains, to public scrutiny. In fact, Shanyang County, known as the "Vanadium Capital of China," is now in the national spotlight due to the disappearance of more than 60 people from Shaanxi Wuzhou Mining Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Wuzhou Mining").

 

　　In recent days, local insiders have pointed out that over the years, Shanyang County has over-exploited vanadium mines, and many mountain interiors have been hollowed out, forming multiple goaf areas. This landslide in the mining area is also a consequence of excessive local mining. Industry insiders believe that vanadium mining brings severe environmental and safety challenges to the local area and will also test the direction of the local vanadium industry's development.

 

　　Doubts about the Landslide

 

　　At around 12:30 a.m. on August 12, a landslide occurred at the workers' dormitory of Shaanxi Wuzhou Mining in Shanyang County, Shangluo City, causing about 1.5 million cubic meters of mountain collapse.

 

　　As of the afternoon of the 14th, before the reporter went to press, rescue work was still intense, but 64 people were still missing (including mine workers and local villagers). Records show that the vanadium mine involved was once owned by a local bankrupt enterprise and was acquired and integrated by Wuzhou Mining after 2004, and mining continued.

 

　　Zhongcun Town in Shanyang County is a key town for the local vanadium mining industry. The mountains extending dozens of kilometers north and south from the Wuzhou Mining plant area where the accident occurred are rich in vanadium resources. Within dozens of kilometers, five or six large and small vanadium mines are distributed. Because its vanadium reserves rank first in Asia, it is called the "Vanadium Capital of China." It is also because of vanadium resources that Zhongcun Town has been planned by Shanyang County as a vanadium industry industrial park, with vanadium-nitrogen alloy production scale reaching 10,000 tons per year.

 

　　Wuzhou Mining, where the landslide occurred, is one of the leading local vanadium enterprises. Public information shows that Wuzhou Mining is a vanadium industry company under the control of Shaanxi Nonferrous Metals Holding Group, the third-largest state-owned enterprise in Shaanxi Province. Wuzhou Mining has seven branches and subsidiaries, including the Shanyang Branch, Shanyang County Zhongtian Vanadium Industry Co., Ltd., and Shanyang County Yuyuan Mining Co., Ltd. The landslide occurred at the location of Wuzhou Mining's Shanyang Branch.

 

　　Records show that Wuzhou Mining has a registered capital of 250 million yuan and was established in November 2004. Shaanxi Nonferrous holds 52.94%. The other five shareholders are Zhashui Yinxin Investment Co., Ltd., Xinda Gold and Silver Development Center, China Cinda Asset Management Co., Ltd., Xi'an Nonferrous Metallurgical Design and Research Institute, and Shaanxi Leiao Nonferrous Metals Co., Ltd.

 

　　At the accident site, many vanadium industry insiders told reporters that since early August, there had been no significant rainfall in the mining area of Shanyang County. The landslide at the Wuzhou Mining area cannot simply be called a landslide; more objectively, it should be called a mountain collapse. Because the interior of the mountain where Wuzhou Mining is located has basically been hollowed out over the past 20 years, making the mountain hollow. According to miners, due to years of mining, the interior of the mountain where the collapse occurred is a mined-out area from top to bottom. The vanadium mine area has two adits; the first adit is at an altitude of about 1,015 meters, the second at about 1,110 meters, and everything above 1,015 meters is empty.

 

　　As a result, many industry insiders disagree with the local official description of a landslide. Some even compared it: "Just like a house whose foundation has been hollowed out and cannot support it, causing the house to collapse, the hollow mountain in the Wuzhou Mining area will inevitably collapse over time."

 

　　Several employees of Wuzhou Mining also confirmed to reporters that one or two days before the accident, someone found cracks in the mountain above the mining area dormitory and reported them to the factory. But the factory only relocated the company's explosives depot and did not stop production or evacuate workers in advance. However, this claim has not been confirmed by local officials. A person from the Shanyang County Publicity Department said that rescue efforts are still ongoing, and the specific cause of the collapse will be released after identification by professional departments. At a press conference held by the local government on August 13, Shanyang County government spokesman Kang Mingliang only reported on the rescue situation.

 

　　The reporter learned that at the landslide site surrounded by mountains, after a huge mountain top almost entirely slid down, a landslide mass about 35 meters high was formed on the ground. Relevant search and rescue excavators are working intensively on the landslide mass mixed with rubble and soil. After on-site inspection by the armed police force responsible for rescue, the volume of the landslide is between 1.3 million and 1.5 million cubic meters, making rescue difficult. However, as of press time, a rescue team of about 700 people is still searching day and night, and local officials require seizing the golden 72 hours for search and rescue.

 

　　Environmental and Safety Concerns Persist

 

　　After the accident, President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang both issued instructions, requiring all-out efforts to organize search and rescue of the buried and to minimize casualties. Shaanxi Governor Lou Qinjian and Vice Governor Zhuang Changxing have rushed to the scene to direct rescue efforts.

 

　　Public information shows that Wuzhou Mining integrates mining, beneficiation, and smelting of vanadium pentoxide. It currently has mineral resources of 38.15 million tons, vanadium metal content of 365,000 tons, and potential economic value of over 100 billion yuan.

 

　　As a concentrated vanadium industry company under Shaanxi Nonferrous, Wuzhou Mining supplies many well-known domestic steel mills. Its downstream customers are mostly well-known state-owned enterprises and listed companies, including Magang Shares, Northeast Special Steel Group, Xinxing Ductile Iron Pipes, Jiuquan Iron and Steel Group, Xining Special Steel, and Zhongyuan Special Steel.

 

　　It is reported that as of 2014, Wuzhou Mining's total assets were 1.672 billion yuan, with an asset-liability ratio of 87.5%. In 2014, it achieved main business revenue of 2.361 billion yuan and net profit of 11 million yuan.

 

　　It is worth noting that the mining by Wuzhou Mining and other vanadium enterprises has brought financial resources to Shanyang County while also putting pressure on the local mountain ecological environment.

 

　　According to local residents, in 2010, the Wuzhou Mining plant experienced spontaneous combustion due to excessive underground CO levels in eight ore blocks. The Shangluo City Mine Rescue Team sealed the relevant mines. The company did not reopen the mines until 2013.

 

　　In addition, villagers in the vanadium mining area of Shanyang County also reported to reporters that the vanadium mine often discharges industrial wastewater into surrounding rivers on rainy days. Due to river pollution, fish and shrimp have not been seen for many years.

 

　　The aforementioned industry insiders analyzed the environmental pollution and safety hazards of vanadium mines, pointing out that in the local vanadium mining area, this is no secret. The local government is not unaware of this, but considering huge tax revenues, it has sacrificed the environment and neglected to eliminate safety hazards. A government official who declined to be named also said that because Wuzhou Mining is a provincial state-owned enterprise, the county government often finds it difficult to supervise.

 

　　Local people gave an example: Wuzhou Mining had illegally invested in and built the golf course "Qinling No. 1" in Zhashui, Shangluo, for many years, and Zhashui County could not stop it either. It was not until the end of March this year that it was banned by the National Development and Reform Commission. This shows that county-level departments sometimes find it difficult to effectively enforce the law against this provincial state-owned enterprise.

 

　　Some villagers said that before this accident, villagers in some mining areas of Zhongcun Town had petitioned the Shanyang County government, reporting cracks in the houses of many mining area villagers and believing that this phenomenon was related to the vanadium mine goaf. However, this claim has not been confirmed by relevant departments.

 

　　In addition, industry insiders pointed out that against the backdrop of vanadium product prices falling to a low point in the past two years, the landslide accident will undoubtedly deal a huge blow to the local vanadium industry. The contradiction between the development of the local vanadium industry and the environment and safety will also become a huge test for the industry's direction.