A regional environmental information system for analyzing and predicting the impacts of nonferrous mining on an agricultural environment

Mineral exploitation is a necessary component of China's economic development goals. Such exploitation brings with it the potential for serious environmental degradation. Careful environmental impact assessments of mining projects are required in order to implement China's environmental protection law and identify measures for protecting surrounding agricultural environments. This article describes an environmental information system that has been developed for the purpose of assisting with the environmental impact assessment of nonferrous mining operations with a particular focus on agricultural impacts. An application of the environmental information system to the Yongping copper mine, located in Jiangxi Province, is discussed. The role of the environmental information system is analyzing and predicting soil contamination from heavy metals and other types of impacts from this mining operation is described. The environmental information system is designed for implementation on an IBM PC/XT microcomputer. The experience gained from the Yongping copper mine application and the growing popularity of microcomputers in China indicate a significant potential for the effective use of a microcomputer-based environmental information system in other parts of China.