Rebirth is written on the green hills and valleys in spring. Qingping Phosphorus Mine of Haohua in the Sichuan province prefecture level city of Deyang was destroyed during the deadly Wenchuan earthquake in May 2008. But like spring, the mine has been reborn.
After the disaster
Three years ago, the annual capacity of Qingping Phosphorus Mine was 1 million tons. It produced high-quality phosphorus which sold well in the market. No one could foresee the 2008 earthquake. The earthquake claimed 89 lives and injured more than 120. More than 180 buildings were destroyed. Equipment, communications, water supply, electricity, transportation, and roadways were seriously damaged. The direct economic loss totaled more than 400 million yuan.
The earthquake razed Qingping Phosphorus Mine. Today, there are beautiful new office buildings, staff canteens, hospitals, and shift rooms. The employees of the mine are back at work.
After months of hard work following the May 2008 earthquake, two shuttle vehicles filled with phosphate rock came out of the Qingping Phosphorus Mine on Nov 22, 2008.
Qingping Phosphorus Mine is located in a mountainous area. Summer and autumn are flood seasons, and there are frequently secondary disasters. In 2010, flooding caused more than 6 million cubic meters of mudslide to hit the mine area. Houses and mines were destroyed. More than 200 people were stranded. Production at Qingping Phosphorus Mine stopped again.
Following the mudslides, rescue teams evacuated 300 villagers and rescued 10 miners trapped in the No 4 well of Tianchi Mine. Their work won praise from Deyang’s municipal government and local residents. Qingping Phosphorus Mine began transporting phosphorus to the outside world again on Oct 7, 2010, shipping 258 tons of ore that day.
Reconstruction.
Reconstruction was not simply about the restoration of an industry. Staff housing also was destroyed, so the mining enterprise built 658 houses in Mianzhu for its staff. Today, more than 80 percent of the mining area’s staff lives in these houses.
The earthquake meant geological changes in the mining area that changed the roads. To ensure safe production, the company increased its technology investments and bought advanced equipment. On March 19, 2010, the 2.7-million-yuan new drilling rigs were officially put into operation. The new rigs, which saved time and labor resources, played a decisive role in the company’s decision to resume full production in 2010.
The mining monitoring system installed after the disaster has 16 surveillance points. This design enables real-time monitoring of the production area and the 1,000-meter-deep underground mining area from the control center. The headquarters at Mianzhu can also monitor production.
The company also decided to implement at strategy involving the “integration of mining and chemistry. On Nov 11, 2010, the company’s 300,000-ton vitriol and 200,000-ton ammonias phosphate projects passed preliminary reviews. A new ammonia phosphate project in Gongxing Industrial Garden at Mianzhu has been completed. Construction of new projects will begin soon.
The construction of new projects is going to be launched as well. The dream of several generations of Qingping people is going to come true.
Looking forward
Following the 2010 mudslides, the company constructed its own “great wall” to avoid being ravaged by a landslide again. It is more than 200 meters long, 8.4 meters high and 4.5 meters thick. The company also planted vegetable gardens to avoid the population being cut off without supplies during any future disaster. More than a dozen branches of the mining company have planted vegetable gardens.
Currently, a modern enterprise is emerging in Mianzhu with an annual capacity of 200,000 tons of DAP, 1 million tons of phosphate mining, 600,000 tons of phosphate screening, 300,000 tons of sulfuric acid and 120,000 tons of phosphoric acid. The company has support from ChemChina, Haohua headquarters, and Mianzhu’s municipal government. Turnover has reached 1.5 billion yuan a year, with profits more than 100 million yuan.