China: coal mine impact on Yellow river upper basin – in pictures
Muli coalfield is illegally gobbling up a nature reserve, blasting away alpine meadows and destroying the ecosystem of the country’s second largest river, Greenpeace investigation shows
Aerial images of the Muli mining area on the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau, in China’s northwest Qinghai province. At an altitude of 4,100-4,300m, this plateau is the main source of the Datong river, the Shule river and the Buha river, which are important tributaries of the Yellow riverThe area is covered in green alpine meadows, with the snow-capped Qinghai mountains in the background. Kingho Group’s opencast mines and excavations by other companies have destroyed the permafrost, wetlands and alpine meadows, damaging a pristine ecological environment. Photograph: GreenpeaceBrown, barren blown out tops are gradually eating into the green meadows as the coal mine expands. Photograph: GreenpeaceThe huge amount of rock and soil dug up during the mining process forms man-made hills along the edge of this opencast coal mine in the Jiangcang mine area, owned by the Qinghai Coking Coal Group. The mine lies at 4,000m above sea level, 19 miles from Muli, in the Datong river basin. Photograph: Wu Haitao/GreenpeaceThe Datong river Basin, where the Jiangcang mine is located, has ample water sources, providing much of the Yellow river’s headwaters. Photograph: Wu Haitao/GreenpeaceThe opencast coal mine in Muli run by the Kingho Group in Qinghai. Opencast mining turns green alpine meadows into large pits. Photograph: Wu Haitao/GreenpeaceAn aerial view of the Muli coal mine in Qinghai. Photograph: Wu Haitao/GreenpeaceHills made of rock and soil dug up during mining spreads over to the green meadows in the Jiangcang mine area. Photograph: Wu Haitao/GreenpeaceVulnerable prairies damaged by overbearing opencast coal mines in Qinghai. Photograph: Wu Haitao/GreenpeaceA panoramic view of the coal and chemical plant owned by the Kingho Group in Wulan county, Qinghai, surrounded by wetlands. Photograph: Wu Haitao/Greenpeace
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