Co-governance of open pit mines across China based on exposure risk assessment of particulate matter

Abstract

Particulate matters (PMs) generated by open-pit mines (OPMs) pose a serious threat to human health and has attracted significant attention from government agencies. Previous exposure risk assessments of OPM-generated PMs focused only on environmental factors associated with individual mines, lacking large-scale assessments that integrate environmental factors with human behavior. Thus, to effectively implement governance policies for OPMs, we used the D8 algorithm to assess the risk of exposure to OPM-generated PM2.5 and PM10 across 315 Chinese cities and employed spatial Durbin modeling to explore how to co-govern the exposure risk from the perspectives of governments, companies, and the public. The results showed that 99.3% of the cities were affected by PMs originating from OPMs, and 56.5% of these cities experience a high exposure risk, approximately two-thirds of which are nonresource-based cities. The government's focus on digitalization, extractive companies' access to investment, and public participation in environmental management are key factors in reducing exposure. Cross-regional cooperation with regards to public participation and company investment is essential for reducing the effect of exposure risks on the surrounding area. This study can provide reference for the green mining construction and urban habitat improvement.