Tibet’s environmental standards restrict miners

Tibet is introducing a system of deposits which will need to be paid by all mining companies in the country by the end of 2007.

The deposits are non-refundable and the revenue raised will be used to regulate the mining sector and minimize its impact on the environment.

Tibet is an autonomous region of China and in June of this year, Xinhua the official Chinese news service, reported that the regional government of Tibet has plans to ban the mining of gold and a number of other minerals, to protect the environment.

According to Wang Baosheng, Director of Tibet’s Land and Resources Department, mercury and arsenic mines have been polluting water supplies, peat mining has the potential to destroy wetlands and exploitation of the region’s gold reserves could ruin grasslands and rivers.

Tibet is home to over 90 known mineral types and expansion of the mining sector could impact negatively on the regions rare animals, which include the Tibetan antelope, wild yak, black-necked crane and the Tibetan pheasant, all of which come under state protection.

Many of these creatures are found in the Lhasa region and Zhang Bifang, Vice Director of the Lhasa Investment Bureau, is making it clear that only mining companies that fulfill their environmental protection promises will remain in the Lhasa area.