Illegal mining occurred in the Sanmenxia gold mining area: some people used highly toxic cyanide to "wash the cave" and caused 7 deaths
A narrow abandoned mine took the lives of a family of three.
On July 6, in Zazagou Mountain, Jianli Village, Sanmenxia City, Henan Province, Li Dongliang went up the mountain to look for cattle and did not return, and his wife and son went up the mountain to look for someone, after which the three were found lying in an abandoned mine.
Liu Hongjun, a relative of the deceased who had come to the scene to rescue, said that there was a "strange smell" in the cave at that time, and many people at the scene had adverse reactions such as dizziness and nausea. The emergency medical records issued by Sanmenxia Central Hospital for Li Dongliang show that there are a large number of pungent odors in the cave entrance and cave, and the police and the masses at the scene have different degrees of physical discomfort and the environment is unsafe. The patient is suspected of cyanide poisoning, and the police have been involved in the investigation.
A number of people at the scene recalled to reporters that wires, water pipes and other items used to "wash the cave" were found in the mine. A doctor involved in the rescue deduced that the odor inside the cave was due to residues of highly toxic chemicals used to "wash the cave".
After the incident, the police issued a notice to the family of the deceased, "In the case of endangering public safety by other dangerous methods in Jianli Village, our bureau believes that the facts of the case exist and meet the conditions for filing a case, and the case has now been filed and investigated." ”
The Beijing News reporter's field investigation found that behind this seemingly accidental accident, the local illegal "hole washing" chaos was exposed. For the sake of profit, some lawbreakers privately purchase gold-raising agents such as sodium cyanide and "pan for gold" in the gold mine tailings, which is known as "washing holes" in the local folk, and the "poisonous gases" left over from the caves have also become fatal hidden dangers.
During the investigation, the reporter found that around the mine where the incident occurred, many generators, wires and other cave washing tools can still be found. In addition, highly toxic chemicals, which are supposed to be strictly controlled, are sold privately by some local merchants or made into gold extractants to facilitate the purchase of cave washers.
In fact, in Sanmenxia City, this is already the second death related to "cavewashing" in a month. According to media reports, last month in Lingbao City, Sanmenxia City, four Shaanxi men were found dead in a closed gold mine due to "cave washing".
In response to the above two incidents, on July 9, the Sanmenxia Municipal Public Security Bureau, the Natural Resources and Planning Bureau, and the Emergency Management Bureau jointly issued a notice to carry out special actions to crack down on the illegal mining of mineral resources in the city.
Look for cattle
At 7:00 a.m. on July 6, Li Dongliang went to Zazagou as usual to look for cattle.
The village of Jianli has been ambushed, and the cattle that are free-range like to nest in the shade of the mountains, and when they are thirsty, they will find water on the mountains to drink. More than ten years of cattle breeding, Li Dongliang is familiar with the habits of cattle, he rides a motorcycle, looks at the cow's hoof prints by the river, listens to the bell on the cow's neck, and can judge the position of the cow.
Zazagou Mountain is only 2 km from Jianli Village. Li Dongliang is familiar with the grass and trees in the mountains, and it usually takes only an hour to find cattle. But on this day, his footprints stopped on a dirt road in Zazagou and disappeared.
According to family recollections, on this day, Li Dongliang also agreed to accompany his wife Liu Hongxia back to his mother's home, the family went to celebrate his mother-in-law's birthday, and the eldest son Li Chong also went to the city to buy a cake.
More than two hours have passed. Liu Hongxia made several phone calls and no one answered, and when she was in a hurry, Li Chong came back with a cake, and she quickly dragged her son to drive up the mountain to find someone.
At 10:57, his younger brother Liu Hongjun called Liu Hongxia, "At that time, my sister said that my brother-in-law was no longer in the cave and wanted to carry him out." Feeling that the situation was not right, Liu Hongjun hurriedly called his sister and nephew while rushing to the place where the accident occurred.
At about 11:35, when Liu Hongjun arrived at the scene, he saw that his brother-in-law's motorcycle was parked on a dirt road, and his sister's car was leaning next to it. In the summer, the mine is cool and watery, and the cattle like to drill into the mine to escape the heat. He speculated that after his sister and nephew saw the motorcycle, they climbed up the hillside where the incident occurred and found Li Dongliang, the brother-in-law who had come to look for cattle in an abandoned mine.
Liu Hongjun recalled that the width and height of the mine cave were about two meters, and people could stand straight inside. He went into the mine, walked two or three meters inside, and saw that his sister's family of three had fallen inside. "When I called them, no one answered."
Liu Hongjun quickly lifted his lightest sister outward. But he soon felt dizzy and nauseous, and he wanted to go into the hole again to carry out his nephew and brother-in-law, but he already felt physically exhausted, and when he gasped for breath, he smelled an "indescribable smell" in the air.
Soon, this smell made Liu Hongjun have an adverse reaction, and he began to feel dizzy, his heart beating faster and breathless.
The call records show that at 11:51, Liu Hongjun called the police at 110, and at 12:17, he dialed 120 to call an ambulance.
Knowing that something was wrong, more and more people came.
At 1 p.m., the youngest son, Li Zhen, received news and rushed to the scene. He saw that 3 ambulances were parked aside, his mother Liu Hongxia was taken to the hospital, and his brother was lying under a tree with blood in his nostrils. The doctor announced on the spot that neither of them had vital signs.
The mine where the incident occurred. Beijing News reporter Wang Ruiwen photographed
"Poison Gas"
The people involved in the rescue did not dare to rush into the cave again, and after the firefighters arrived, the mouth of the mine was widened, and Li Dongliang was carried out.
The emergency medical records issued by Sanmenxia Central Hospital for Li Dongliang restored the situation at that time: there were a large number of pungent odors in the cave entrance and cave, cyanide poisoning was suspected, the police and the masses at the scene were unwell to varying degrees, and the environment was unsafe. Firefighters wear protective clothing into the hole to evacuate the patient. The patient is suspected of cyanide poisoning, and the police have been involved in the investigation.
Liu Hongjun said that until the afternoon, the pungent smell near the mine cave still did not dissipate, and many people vomited. Liu Hongjun, who had made two round trips to and from the cave, could not stand up, was helped into an ambulance, and sent to Sanmenxia Central Hospital for treatment.
The medical records issued by the hospital show that Liu Hongjun was diagnosed with acute harmful gas poisoning (cyanide is highly likely).
Where does the "poison gas" come from?
Zhao Yingying, an emergency department doctor who participated in the rescue at the scene, told the Beijing News reporter that on the same day, three people died at the scene, and three people were poisoned and hospitalized, and the hospital believed that according to the clinical observation of the poisoned population, "there is more than 90% of the possibility of cyanide poisoning." According to her description, there was a strong smell of bitter almonds outside the cave at that time, because the accident site was a gold mine, which may be related to the use of sodium cyanide by Tijin.
Jiang Kaixi, former president of the Beijing General Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, introduced that sodium cyanide will produce a volatile highly toxic substance hydrocyanic acid under certain conditions, and if the protection is not in place, adverse reactions will occur immediately after being inhaled by the human body.
Thinking of the many scattered activated carbon found on the side of the road, as well as the wires and water pipes seen in the cave, Liu Hongjun realized that it may be someone "washing the cave" in Zazagou. Cavewashing is a local vernacular that refers to illegal elements stealing from abandoned gold mines and using highly toxic chemicals to "raise gold", and sodium cyanide is one of them.
On July 8, a reporter from the Beijing News came to the Zazagou Mountain where the mouth of the mine where the incident occurred. It is 26 kilometers from the city, it takes 1 hour to drive, and on the way to Jianli Village, you can see the signage points set up by the gold mining company, and there are two gold mining companies near this village alone.
The Beijing News reporter saw at the scene that the abandoned mine cave where the incident occurred was on a small soil slope, with little vegetation and more rubble flowing water, standing at the bottom of the slope and looking up, it was difficult to find the location of the cave entrance. On the dirt road, there is still a lot of activated carbon scattered in the grass and puddles.
This is no stranger to the villagers who live near the gold mine, "When you see activated charcoal, you know that someone is washing the cave here." According to Jiang Kaixi, activated carbon is mainly used to adsorb gold dissolved in sodium cyanide solution during the gold washing process, which is convenient for unified extraction.
The family speculated that Li Dongliang saw activated charcoal, knew that someone washed the hole, and was worried that the cattle would be poisoned in the hole, so they went into the cave to check on the accident.
After the incident, a reporter from the Beijing News accompanied the family to the gold mining company belonging to Zazagou Mountain. Di Bin, the head of the company, confirmed to Li Dongliang's family that the incident that led to the death of 3 people occurred in the mine, and there were cave washers who washed the caves, and the "poisonous gas" left inside would exist for a long time.
Di Bin said that when the company was first stationed here in 2014, the abandoned mine already existed, and the last time it was blocked in March this year. When the company's people go up the mountain to inspect, they often find diesel engines, water pipes and wires for washing the caves in the mine, and the inspectors will cut the water pipes to destroy the equipment. "We have zero tolerance for cavewashing. They did this illegal thing by poisoning my turf. ”
A generator hidden at the top of a mountain. According to the villagers, this generator needs to be transported to the mine by car. Beijing News reporter Wang Ruiwen photographed
Wash the holes
A case filing notice provided by Li Zhen to the Beijing News reporter shows that in the case of Endangering Public Safety by Other Dangerous Methods in Jianli Village, Shaanzhou District on July 8, 2021, our bureau believes that the facts of the case exist and meet the conditions for filing a case, and has now filed and investigated the case.
The police said that the case is being actively investigated, and the specific case is inconvenient to disclose. In order to further confirm the cause of death of the three people in the case, on July 8, Li Zhen submitted an autopsy application to the police, and the autopsy is currently underway.
The abandoned mine where the incident occurred, located in the Zazagou Mountain, belongs to the Dafangshan Gold Mine and Henan Zhongjiaminke Mining Co., Ltd. On July 10, a reporter from the Beijing News visited and found that if the vehicle wanted to enter the mining area of the above company, it needed to go through three checkpoints. The checkpoints are intercepted by steel pipes and can only be accessed if the administrator unlocks them with a key.
According to local villagers, the first checkpoint was for fire protection, and the back checkpoints were set up by gold mining companies, and vehicles could not go up the mountain without their permission.
Even at such a heavy level, traces of cave washers can still be seen in the mining area.
On the side of the Zhazhagou mountain alone, the Beijing News reporter saw six or seven cave entrances, and the cave mouths all ran south and north. Originally, the dense vegetation of the ravine paved a stone road with gravel, and Zheng Quan, who is familiar with "washing caves", told the Beijing News reporter that this was paved by cavewashers in order to facilitate the transportation vehicles. Subsequently, he pulled open a few stones and pulled out a wire more than ten meters long, "These black pipes we see are at least 2,000 meters long." ”
Near the mine, there are some cut water pipes, which run west along the mouth of the cave, and more imperceptible cavewashing equipment is hidden. Walking to the top of the mountain, the Beijing News reporter opened a hole full of branches and found that under the cover, there was a generator hidden at the top of the mountain, and there was a diesel barrel next to it.
Di Bin, head of the gold mining company, said that local cavewashing incidents occur frequently, and these people do things hiddenly, "At first, they could still see people, but then they couldn't see people." "Every time he found someone washing a hole, he reported it as usual.
Zheng Quan told the Beijing News reporter that the cave washing is mainly for some tailings and waste mines with low gold content, for illegal mining, washing the cave with sodium cyanide can squeeze out the surplus value on the abandoned gold mine, although the toxicity is dangerous, but the benefits are still considerable.
Zheng Quan said that the process of washing the cave is simple, taking the Zazagou Mountain where the accident occurred as an example, digging the sealed mine hole, and then laying pipes in the hole to flush the mine, connecting the generator, installing a water pump, and then putting on the matched gold extraction agent. "Usually, activated charcoal is placed in the low-lying place in the cave, and when the time comes, the activated carbon that adsorbs gold is taken away, and the gold is burned and it comes out."
A local who has participated in the cave washing frankly said, "Some people wash the cave with sodium cyanide, take the gold, and the hole is opened, which is very dangerous." ”
Villagers around the gold mine are no strangers to cavewashing. In Jianli Village, many villagers mostly raise cattle and cultivate land for a living, and it is common for free-range cattle to accidentally break into the mine and be poisoned.
Wang Qing, a villager in Guojiapo, told reporters that his cattle had been poisoned in the mine. Once, he bumped into a "cave washer" person on the mountain, and the other party took the initiative to "lose money". The villagers did not know where these people came from, and when they could not catch people, they could only consider themselves unlucky.
Wang Qing last saw a cave washer in April this year. On the hill next to Jianli Village, he saw someone washing the slag with sodium cyanide, next to a generator, water pipes, power lines and 6 large pools. He immediately reported it to the local authorities. Later, a staff member of the town government told him that someone had been sent to deal with it and sent him several photos of the scene. After some time, Wang Qing went up the mountain again and saw that the previous pool had disappeared.
A notice of case filing issued by the police to the family of the deceased. Beijing News reporter Wang Ruiwen photographed
black market
According to local villagers, the mine was a branch of the Qinling Mountains. According to public information, Sanmenxia is an important gold deposit area in China, and the second largest gold production base in the country, since the Xiaoqinling gold mine was discovered in the 1960s, the Shaanzhou District adjacent to xiaoqinling also entered the era of crazy gold mining in the 1990s.
In January 2019, Henan Daily reported in the report "Huan Lu Ji - Mine Environmental Remediation and Ecological Restoration Report of Xiaoqinling National Nature Reserve" that "the 1990s was an era of crazy gold mining. Every ditch is filled with the rumble of cannons and cars, and at night it is illuminated with shops, hotels, karaoke. ”
The gold mines in Sanmenxia are mainly distributed in Lingbao City and Shaanzhou District, and now the prosperity of the past has ended, but in Lingbao City, you can still see the figure of the former Golden City. In the four towns of Gold in Lingbao City, there are large and small gold shops and mine daily grocery stores gathered on the street, take a piece of gold ore, and find a shop in the town to measure the gold content.
However, the Beijing News reporter's investigation found that the tools needed for illegal cave washing, even highly toxic chemicals, are also secretly traded on the "black market".
Gold extraction agents are necessary for cavewashing and are generally divided into two types, sodium cyanide and gold mineral separators. Jiang Kaixi, former president of the Beijing General Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, said that cyanide and other cyanides used in alchemy are highly toxic chemicals, and the control is very strict, requiring the approval and permission of the public security department to be used. If used in illegal mining, it is a serious violation of the law.
Li Gang, who had been engaged in cyanide heap leaching work, told reporters that before in the local area, controlled products of sodium cyanide could be bought as long as there was "money and relationship". "But recently there have been dead people in the mine, and the limelight is tight." He promised the reporter that when the limelight passed, he could introduce the purchase channel to the reporter.
Zhou Qiang, a manufacturer of sodium cyanide in Sanmenxia, said that sodium cyanide is strictly controlled, and both purchase and transportation need to hold a purchase certificate and transportation certificate issued by the public security department, and do not sell to individuals. But some qualified purchasers will sell their sodium cyanide at a high price to earn the difference.
Zhou Qiang revealed that regular gold mining companies have purchase permits, so they do not have to buy on the black market. Some of these sodium cyanide will be sold to people who wash the hole, "a bucket of 50 kilograms of sodium cyanide, the normal price is about a thousand yuan, but the price of resale will be two to three times higher." ”
In addition to sodium cyanide, some manufacturers claim to sell "environmentally friendly gold extractants". They claim to be safe and environmentally friendly, using patented technology that replaces sodium cyanide with complexed cyanogen, "very toxic, just like laundry detergent." ”
However, for this statement, Jiang Kaixi does not agree, "This so-called complexed cyanogen mineral separator will still produce cyanide when soaking gold." A technical expert who has done wastewater exhaust gas detection also said that gold washing needs to be carried out in an alkaline environment, and some mineral separators will add sodium ferrocyanide, and in a strong alkali environment, it is also possible to dissolve cyanide.
A merchant who also sells gold extraction agents, Li Ke, also punctured this "lie". He told the Beijing News reporter that most of the gold extractants on the market that claim to be non-toxic and environmentally friendly are actually added with sodium cyanide, which is already an open secret in the industry. "Cyanide is prone to volatilize highly toxic gases after encountering water, and it falls to the ground after smelling it." When using this agent, it is necessary to wear a gas mask and an oxygen cylinder, and once the mask is broken, the consequences are unimaginable. ”
Cavewashing tools around the mine. Beijing News reporter Wang Ruiwen photographed
repair
The Beijing News reporter searched and found that in recent years, the illegal use of sodium cyanide to wash gold in Sanmenxia City has occurred frequently.
As early as 2011, the Caojiayao Forest Farm in Shaanxi County (now Shaanzhou District) had people soaking gold panning with highly toxic sodium cyanide piles, and was exposed by the media. According to reports, there are nearly 10,000 tons of gold ore piled up at the site, and down the stone is a large pit, which is full of black and yellow cyanide poisoned water soaked with sodium cyanide, and the water surface is covered with thick white foam. There are also several large pits nearby for cyanide poison water precipitation, and the pungent smell is unbearable.
Afterwards, the local environmental protection department came forward to deal with it. The reporter noticed that the place where the case occurred was adjacent to Jianli Village, only a few kilometers away.
The judgment document network also disclosed a cavewashing case that occurred in Xizhang Village. According to the documents, in April 2017, someone was introduced to illegal mining in the abandoned mine of No. 66 Caojiayao Forest Farm, Xizhangcun Town, Shaanzhou District, Sanmenxia City. The cave washer pays for the purchase of generators, water pumps and other cave washing equipment, colludes with others to spray gold in the cave with cyanide, and directly discharges the wastewater generated by the cave washing into the hole. Monitored by the Environmental Monitoring Station of Shaanzhou District, Sanmenxia City, the cyanide content in the wastewater discharged from the cave washing site was 284mg/L. In this regard, the Sanmenxia Intermediate People's Court convicted both of them of environmental pollution and fined them 10,000 yuan.
In addition, according to upstream news reports, a month ago, in Dahu Village, Yangping Town, Lingbao City, Sanmenxia City, four Shaanxi men were found dead in a closed gold mine for "washing holes".
Du Shiqing, a family member of the deceased, told the Beijing News that on April 9, two contract foremen promised his father that they would take him to work in pit 9 and pit 10 in the Dongyu mining area of Dahu Village with a salary of 10,000 yuan per month. "Before I went, my dad didn't know it was an illegal cave wash, thinking it was a regular contracted gold mine." On the evening of June 3, the family lost contact with Du Hongzu, and on June 12, it was learned that Du Hongzu had been killed in the mine.
In the past month alone, on July 6, there have been new fatalities in Zazagou, which is 100 kilometers away.
After the two incidents occurred in succession, the local government began to organize gold mining companies to re-seal the abandoned mine. On July 9, this reporter saw the "Circular on Severely Cracking Down on Illegal Mining of Mineral Resources" issued by the Sanmenxia Municipal Public Security Bureau, the Municipal Natural Resources and Planning Bureau, and the Municipal Emergency Management Bureau in Both Shaanzhou District and Lingbao City.
The above-mentioned "Circular" pointed out that in order to effectively strengthen the protection and management of mineral resources in our city and severely crack down on the illegal mining of gold ore, aluminum ore and other mineral resources in our city, in accordance with the "Mineral Resources Law of the People's Republic of China", the "Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China", the "Environmental Protection Law of the People's Republic of China" and other laws and regulations, after the study of the municipal party committee and the municipal government, it was decided to carry out a special action to crack down on the theft of mineral resources throughout the city from now on.
The "Circular" emphasizes that mineral resources belong to the state and must be examined and approved by the relevant state departments and obtained relevant licenses such as legal mining licenses before they can be exploited, and those who engage in mineral resource mining activities without obtaining relevant licenses in accordance with the law are considered to be illegal mining of mineral resources.
In addition, local governments have organized relevant departments to severely crack down on the illegal mining of mineral resources in accordance with the law, and have taken measures against the tools and equipment used in the illegal mining of mineral resources in accordance with the law. The relevant administrative law enforcement departments shall strictly investigate and deal with illegal acts that damage the ecological environment such as destroying cultivated land and forest land, polluting rivers and water sources, and so on due to the illegal exploitation of mineral resources. Where a crime is constituted, criminal responsibility is to be pursued in accordance with law. At the same time, a reward report is set up.
The reporter's inquiry found that in 2008, the "Notice on Further Clarifying the Division of Labor of Mine Closure Supervision Responsibilities" issued by the Office of the Central Organization Establishment Committee clearly pointed out that all kinds of mining enterprises are the responsible entities for mine closure, and should be closed in place for the closure of mines according to regulations, and take preventive measures for the hazards that may be caused after closure. Local people's governments at or above the county level are the main body responsible for the supervision of the closure of local mines. The people's governments of all provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government) should strengthen the supervision of mine closure, and put in place the organization of abandoned mines that have not been completely closed in the region, eliminate potential safety hazards, and prevent accidents.
The relevant person in charge of the Shaanzhou District Natural Resources Bureau told the Beijing News that at present, there is no clear local management method for abandoned mines. There are many local gold mines, and there are many problems left over from history, and sometimes villagers report that they go up the mountain to investigate, and the cave washers directly hide in the cave and do not come out. "Because of the concern for safety, the law enforcement officers can only take a step back, but you retreat, they run away as soon as they slip away."
In this regard, Zhang Xiaoli, a lawyer at Hainan Haishi Law Firm, believes that if the cavewashing personnel violate the relevant regulations to purchase, transport and use dangerous chemicals to wash the caves, it may also constitute the crime of illegally buying, selling and storing dangerous substances and the crime of polluting the environment.
According to Sanmenxia Daily, on July 13, Sanmenxia City held a lecture and commentary meeting on the special action of rectifying the illegal mining of mineral resources, and Li Hongnian, vice mayor and director of the Municipal Public Security Bureau, attended the meeting. Li Hongnian proposed that it is necessary to look at the death and keep an eye on the prison, resolutely put an end to the occurrence of safety accidents, and adopt the method of piece by piece, point by point, and mine by mine, and carry out "dragnet" and "carpet" inspections.
The Beijing News reporter noted that the relevant responsible persons of Xizhangcun Town in Shaanzhou District and Yangping Town in Lingbao City, which have successively experienced cavewashing accidents, also attended the above meeting.
On July 19, a reporter from the Beijing News saw at the scene that the forest area near the mine where the incident occurred had been hung with slogans to crack down on illegal mining. Beijing News reporter Wang Ruiwen photographed
(Zheng Quan, Li Ke, Zhou Qiang, Wang Qing, Li Gang are pseudonyms)
Beijing News reporter Wang Ruiwen intern He Yu Wu Jinghan
Edited by Li Ming
Proofreading Chen Diyan