Phosphate Mining in Sichuan Province

Trucks wait to transport phosphate to factories on the Mianyuan River. Much of the Mianyuan River has been blocked by landslides an its bed turned into a car park. An investigation by Greenpeace and Chengdu-based environmental NGO Hengduan Mountain Research Society has revealed that phosphate mining greatly exacerbates the risk of landslides and other geological disasters, threatening the safety of miners and residents downstream.

Unique identifier: GP04JKC

Type: Image

Shoot date: 08/04/2013

Locations: Asia, China, Mianzhu, Sichuan

Credit line: © Ma Dong / Greenpeace

Ranking: ★★★★ (E)

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Phosphate Mining in Sichuan Province

Greenpeace and Chengdu-based environmental NGO Hengduan Mountain Research Society have released a joint report on the hazards of phosphate mining activities, which supply the manufacture of fertilizers, in Longmen Mountain, Sichuan Province, an area severely stricken by the devastating 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. The studies have found that phosphate mining in Longmen Mountain, greatly exacerbates the risk of landslides and other geological disasters, threatening the safety of miners and residents downstream. In addition, phosphate mining has encroached on the region's nature reserve, impacting a native giant panda population. Greenpeace conducted a number of field trips to the Nine Mountain Nature Reserve in Sichuan, in order to investigate threats to a protected nature reserve that is currently housing eleven pandas in the wild. Field surveys in the Mianyuan River valley found that phosphate mining has destroyed much of the vegetation located in the hinterland of the panda habitat.

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Phosphate Mining in Sichuan Province

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