Inner Mongolia raised the access threshold for heavy metal related industry

According to the ‘“Twelfth Five Year” Plan of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region for Integrated Prevention & Treatment of Heavy Metal Pollution’ printed and distributed by the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Development and Reform Commission, during the “Twelfth Five Year Plan” period, the major heavy metal pollutant emission of key prevention & control zone in Inner Mongolia must be reduced by 15% on the basis of 2007, total major heavy metal pollutant emission of non key prevention& control zone should not exceed the level in 2007.

In the future, Inner Mongolia will consider raising industry access threshold of nonferrous metal smelting and chemical industries as one of the key access points of heavy metal pollution prevention & treatment. The Plan put forward that during the “Twelfth Five Year Plan”period it will progressively raise industry access threshold, strictly restrict heavy metal related projects. Within the key prevention &control zone, the minimum production and construction scale of newly built lead and zinc mines should not fall below 30,000 t/a (100 t/d)for single mineral deposit, and the service years must be over 15 years, the production and construction scale of medium sized single mineral deposit should be above 300,000 t/a (1000 t/d);for newly built lead or zinc smelting projects,single series lead smelting capacity must be above 50,000 t/a (excluding 50,000 tonnes), the single series zinc smelting scale must reach 100,000 t/a and above; the construction scale of new lead acid battery project must be above 500,000 kv AH, the technology upgrading scale of old enterprises must be above 200,000 kv AH; for manufacturers of secondary lead by using waste lead acid battery, the existing enterprises’ access production scale must be above 10,000 t/a, upgrading and expansion projects must have a scale of above 20,000 t/a,newly built project must have a scale of above 50,000 t/a.

According to the Plan, Inner Mongolia will strictly implement heavy metal pollutant total volume control system for construction projects, carry out clean production review for heavy metal related enterprises, carry out dedicated rectification campaign on heavy metal related industries, and carry out follow-up monitoring on surface water, atmosphere, underground water, soil in key area.

It has been learned that Inner Mongolia’s“Twelfth Five Year Plan” for Heavy Metal Prevention & Treatment has identified 109 planned projects, the planned total investment is 2.346 billion yuan.

According to relevant info, by 2010, hazardous and waste substance generation volume from nonferrous metal smelting and pressing manufacture industry as well as chemical raw material and chemical product manufacture industry inside Inner Mongolia Region accounts for 85% of total generation volume in the whole region, making it the most severely hit area of heavy metal pollution in the entire region.