China Admonishes City Government Over Illegal Sand Mining

China’s National Natural Resources Supervision Nanjing Bureau publicly admonished the Tongcheng city government in Anhui Province on July 28 for leading and organizing illegal sand mining operations concealed as a farmland improvement project. The admonishment marks a striking case of a local government itself being held directly accountable for resource exploitation rather than merely failing to supervise private actors.

According to The Paper, the Nanjing Bureau summoned Tongcheng’s main responsible official for a face-to-face meeting at its headquarters, where inspectors issued a formal reprimand over what they described as “prominent problems” involving government-led illegal sand mining under the pretext of agricultural land improvement.

The Farmland Improvement Scheme

The illegal operation began in December 2022, when the Tongcheng City Government approved a “Farmland Quality Improvement and Transformation Plan” drafted by the Kongcheng Town Government. The plan proposed replacing surface waste rock with underground sand and gravel to extract coarse gravel, after which the land would be leveled and the soil supposedly improved.

However, as reported by China News Service, inspectors found that operations focused almost exclusively on sand mining, with no soil improvement or farmland quality transformation actually carried out. The “farmland improvement” label served as a convenient cover to bypass mineral resource regulations.

Scale of Illegal Mining

From December 2022 through the end of 2023, nearly 400,000 tons of sand and gravel were transported and sold from the site. The operation generated substantial revenue from the sale of construction-grade materials, though the total financial value has not yet been disclosed.

The Nanjing Bureau’s inspection found that the actions violated multiple provisions of the Mineral Resources Law of the People’s Republic of China, which prohibits “any unit or individual from occupying or destroying mineral resources by any means” and requires lawful acquisition of prospecting and mining rights before any extraction. Tongcheng’s relevant departments failed to investigate the illegal acts and did not perform their legally mandated supervisory duties.

The Admonishment Meeting

At the July 28 meeting, representatives from the Anhui Provincial Government, Anqing City Government (which oversees Tongcheng), and provincial and municipal natural resources departments were present. The Nanjing Bureau demanded that Tongcheng recognize the seriousness of the problem, reflect on root causes, and resolutely halt illegal mining.

“Must never exchange illegal resource exploitation and disruption of mineral resource management order for temporary local development,” the Nanjing Bureau stated during the meeting, according to media reports.

In response, the Tongcheng city government’s main responsible person pledged to “resolutely rectify according to law and regulations, seriously investigate accountability for dereliction of duty, take this as a warning, learn lessons, improve mechanisms, and plug loopholes,” as Lianhe Zaobao reported. The official also vowed to “resolutely prevent similar problems from occurring.”

Broader Significance

This case highlights a recurring tension in China’s environmental governance: local economic interests frequently clash with national environmental protection mandates. While China’s central government has repeatedly cracked down on illegal sand mining, enforcement at the local level has been inconsistent, and the “farmland improvement” loophole has become a known tactic for extracting valuable sand and gravel deposits beneath agricultural land.

What makes this case particularly noteworthy is that the government itself—not a private company—was the lead organizer of the illegal operation. The public admonishment signals that the National Natural Resources Supervision system, established to oversee local government compliance with land and mineral laws, is willing to call out government-led violations directly.

What to Watch For

The Nanjing Bureau has stated it will closely monitor Tongcheng’s rectification efforts and conduct supervision and verification in due course. Several questions remain unanswered: whether any Tongcheng officials will face criminal charges or only administrative discipline, whether the nearly 400,000 tons of sand and gravel sold can be traced and recovered, and whether this case will trigger broader inspections of similar farmland improvement projects across Anhui or nationwide.

For now, the admonishment serves as a warning to other local governments that using environmental improvement projects as a cover for resource extraction carries real consequences—even when the government itself is the one behind the scheme.