Ecological Restoration and Transformation of Maoming Oil Shale Mining Area: Experience and Inspirations

Abstract

Oil shale is a kind of unconventional energy resource with abundant reserves, but its exploitation has a continuous negative impact on the environment, which has hindered the research and exploitation of oil shale under the international environmental consensus on issues such as climate change. Therefore, more attention should be paid to environmental problems as the side effect of oil shale exploitation. With the combination of field research, literature collection, and tracking survey, the oil shale open-pit exploitation and management process in Maoming, Guangdong, China, has been investigated, and its development and transformation model has been subsequently refined and summarized. The research results show that Maoming oil shale open-pit mine area has gone through four main stages: pre-exploitation stage, large-scale utilization stage, restoration stage, and green development stage. Through the management of mine pit treatment, vegetation restoration, ecological park construction, and tourism resource development, the abandoned open-pit mine has been transformed into an ecological park combining ecosystem, tourism, and cultural resources. In this process, this area has achieved the transformation from rough resource extraction to environment-friendly sustainable growth in its development mode. As a successful case of open-pit mine management in the world, the ecological restoration experience in Maoming can function as a reference for the smooth development and transformation of other oil shale mines in developing countries.