Authorities in central China are investigating a mining company that stripped a series of hillsides and then painted the bare ground green in an attempt to “improve appearances and control dust”.
The authorities were spurred into action by drone footage posted online by news video channel Litchi News on Wednesday showing the bare hillsides covered in the green coating.An employee at Jinjiang Mining, which owns the mining rights to the area, told the South China Morning Post that the substance was a dust control agent.The Beijing News quoted staff as saying the company “painted” the rock green because it could not plant trees there.
“The main purpose is to make it look better. It was an experiment. It didn’t work out,” an unnamed staff member was quoted as saying.