Jul 18.07.2019, 60 - China has started large-scale mining operations on its side of the controversial border with India in the Himalayas, which has uncovered a vast treasure trove of gold, silver and other valuable minerals valued by Chinese state geologists at nearly $ XNUMX billion has been.
Although mining has been practiced in the world's highest mountain range for thousands of years, the challenge of access to remote terrain and environmental concern has so far limited the scale of activities.
The unprecedented scale of the new mines is due to years of substantial investment by the Chinese government in roads and other infrastructure in the region.
Those familiar with the project say the mines are part of an ambitious plan by Beijing to recapture southern Tibet, a significant part of the controversial territory that is currently under Indian control.
China's efforts to harness the region's natural resources while rapidly building infrastructure could lead to the conflict becoming another South China Sea.
Most of the valuable minerals, including rare earths that make high-tech products, are found in Lhunze County, a major military center in China that used to forcefully displace Indians living there almost 60 years ago.
In just a few years, the discovery has turned the once-quiet, remote county of 30.000-permanent residents, most of them Tibetan shepherds, into a booming mining center.
People were pouring in so quickly that even local government officials could not count the current population accurately. Along the military line of confrontation, huge, deep tunnels were dug into the mountains to load and transport thousands of tons of ore daily on the roads built by each village.
Extensive power lines and communication networks have been established while an airport for passenger jets is being built.
By the end of last year, mining activity in Lhunze had exceeded that of any other area in Tibet. Gross domestic product grew at 20 per cent, infrastructure investment more than doubled compared to 2016, and residents' median income almost tripled from the days before the mining boom.
In October, shortly after the end of a tense military conflict on the Doklam Plateau over Chinese road construction - the worst conflict between China and India in years - President Xi Jinping underscored the claim to the Lhunze area in a letter to a family in Beijing, published in state media.
The President seldom responds to correspondence from the public, and when he does, there is usually a reason. In this case, Xi thanked the father and two daughters for their loyalty and contribution to China, and called on people in Lhunze to "take root" to develop the area for national interest.
People familiar with the mining plan say the rapid pace of development in Lhunze, a traditional military stronghold heavily occupied by the People's Liberation Army, is part of Beijing's determined drive to regain complete control of southern Tibet or Arunachal Pradesh - currently Indian . The disputed area is as big as Austria with original forests, fertile farmland and rich natural resources.
The Himalayas stretch across five countries - India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, China, Bhutan, and Nepal - and have seen many deadly conflicts resulting from border disputes.
Behind the possibility that "another South China Sea" stands out from the highest mountain range in the world, are recent findings that point to the value of the buried minerals.
Zheng Youye, a professor at the Chinese University of Earth Sciences in Beijing and senior scientist for a Beijing-funded study of the northern Himalayan minerals, told the South China Morning Post that a number of discoveries in recent years have identified the potential value of ores in ore Lhunze and the surrounding area are valued at over 370 billion yuan (58 billion US dollars). "This is just a preliminary estimate. More polls are in progress, "he said.
There might be more big finds in the future as Chinese researchers learn more about the area. With strong financial support from the government, they have already collected extensive data on the region.
Using a special technique they developed, the researchers were able to accurately identify and locate exploitable reserves in the unique terrain that contains magma and hot springs that are essential for the formation of mineral deposits - and where traditional prospecting methods have failed.
According to Zheng, the newly discovered ores could influence the balance of power between China and India in the Himalayas.
China captured southern Tibet after starting a war against India in the early 1960s. "But the Chinese troops had to withdraw quickly because they had no people to populate the country," said the scientist.
The new mining activities would lead to a rapid and significant increase in the Himalayan Chinese population, Zheng said, providing stable and long-term support for diplomatic or military operations aimed at gradually expelling Indian forces from China's claimed territory ,
"This is similar to the South China Sea," where Beijing asserted its claim to much of the disputed waters by building artificial islands and increasing its naval activity.
Hao Xiaoguang, a researcher at the Institute of Geodesy and Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Wuhan, Hubei, and high-ranking government specialist in disputes between China and India in southern Tibet, said that Beijing is likely to adopt the same approach to the Himalayas as in the South China Sea.
As China's economic, geopolitical and military strength continues to grow, it is only a matter of time before southern Tibet comes under Chinese control again, Hao said. “What China has achieved today in the South China Sea was almost unthinkable a decade ago. I am optimistic about what will happen in the Himalayas in the coming years, as President Xi has made it clear that "not a single meter of our land will be ceded," which definitely includes southern Tibet, "he said.
But Hao said the mining boom in Lhunze will not be extended to other areas. In other parts of Tibet, mining activities have been banned or severely curtailed, as the mining and processing of minerals on a large scale can cause excessive waste of chemicals and other wastes that threaten the fragile Himalayan environment and may irreparably damage the natural landscape ,
India currently controls most of southern Tibet and Arunachal Pradesh - an area known for its rich Tibetan culture and lush landscape of Buddhist temples. Only 83.000 million people live on more than 1,2 km².
Over the decades, New Delhi has built a strong military presence in the region, including airports and missile launchers. The government has also encouraged people in other parts of India to migrate to the northeastern state.
However, according to Indian scientists, the knowledge of the underground reserves remains very limited, partly due to the lack of extensive in-depth investigations.
Known resources of the state include coal, oil and natural gas, dolomite, limestone, graphite, lead and zinc. However, the size of the reserves is largely unknown according to a study by Trilochan Singh, director of University-Industry Inter 2013 -Linkage Center at Arunachal University of Studies and a former government geologist. "The Arunachal Himalayas are known as the land of hidden treasures," wrote Singh in a newspaper. "This hidden natural wealth requires systematic research to obtain reliable data on a consistent pattern for the development of guidelines and plans." The situation today is more or less the same as it was at the time of the study, as the natural resources in Arunachal "are not currently." "said Singh of the China Post.
D. Rameshwar Rao, a government scientist at the Wadia Institute for Himalayan Geology, said the institute did not know that China was operating large-scale mining activities on the Arunachal border, and declined to comment.
In Lhunze some newcomers are still acclimatising. Weng Qingzhen, who owns a Sichuan restaurant in the county, said she had moved there less than two months ago, after telling friends and relatives about the mining boom.
"We came here for the gold rush, but this place isn't as wild as I thought," she said. “It's neat and civilized and there is an abundant supply of almost anything you might need. "The only thing missing is oxygen," said Weng, referring to the conditions in Lhunze, which is at an altitude of 4.000 meters above sea level. The Weng's restaurant is in the midst of a cluster of businesses that include a hair salon, laundry service, supermarket, beauty shop, Western-style bakery, pastry shop, and bars. After dark, the bars and grill stalls are filled with dialects from all over China. They are miners and workers, but also elegant salesmen and investors in suits and shiny shoes.
One woman who runs a laundry service said she has 30 to 40 customers a day, and while dry cleaning was expensive, her regulars didn't seem to mind. "Most of the people here earn a decent income," said the woman, who has lived in Lhunze for more than two years and did not want to be named, with an average monthly salary of 10.000 yuan.
Many of them are employed by one of several mining companies operating in the area. The largest is Tibet Huayu Mining, which is listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Last year, the company achieved sales of nearly 1 billion yuan, with 2016's profit on 300 million yuan rising by 60 percent.
As more mines are being built in Lhunze and the surrounding area, a county official who did not want to be named told the China Post that more than 80 percent of the district government's tax revenue came from mining.
However, the government also strictly controls who is allowed to enter Lhunze - the district remains a military exclusion zone. To get there, Chinese citizens need special permission from the military. In most cases, foreigners are barred from entering the country.
So it has been since the outbreak of a war between China and India in 1962 following a series of conflicts and violence on the border following the 1959 Tibetan uprising when India granted asylum to the Dalai Lama. In the late summer of this year, soldiers from the People's Liberation Army attacked a fortress of Assam rifles in the village of Longju in eastern Lhunze, killing several Indian soldiers. Days later, the Chinese expelled the Indian military from the area and took control of the country. Thousands of soldiers were killed in the ensuing border war, which ended after 31 days, when the Chinese declared a truce and withdrew from southern Tibet and other disputed areas.
Over the decades, the dispute has continued to decline, yet there have been further clashes between the world's most populous nations, with India insisting that the border follows the natural ridge of the Himalayan Mountains, while China covers the lowlands in the Himalayan region as part of Tibet and therefore it would belong to China.
In Lhunze, the growing Chinese community today is focusing on the mining boom. Those who want to earn money like the restaurateur Weng hope that others will join them.
"The biggest problem with us is the seclusion - there isn't even a bus and it takes hours to get to the next town," said Weng. "I hope more people come and turn this place into a big city."
Institute for Rare Earths and Metals Arndt Uhlendorff - July 2019
