On September 22, 2023, during the slag removal operation of +320 m to +230 m return air shaft of Longjiangting Copper Polymetallic Mine (hereinafter referred to as Longjiangting Mine) of Wuping Zijin Mining Co., LTD., Longyan City, Fujian Province, a large height falling accident occurred, resulting in 3 deaths and a direct economic loss of 4,497,600 yuan.

1. Basic information of the accident unit

Longjiangting Mine belongs to Wuping Zijin Mining Co., LTD. (hereinafter referred to as Wuping Zijin), infrastructure mine, designed production capacity of 600,000 tons/year, mining rights area of 0.1505 square kilometers, mining method for underground mining. Wuping Zijin belongs to Zijin Mining Group Co., LTD. (hereinafter referred to as Zijin Group).

The mine construction unit is Fujian Yiguang Construction Engineering Co., LTD. (hereinafter referred to as Yiguang Company), established Fujian Yiguang Construction Engineering Co., Ltd. in Wuping Zijin Project Department (hereinafter referred to as Longjiang Ting Mine project Department). The supervision unit is Fujian Zijin Engineering Technology Co., LTD.

The accident occurred in Longjiangting Mine +320 m to +230 m return air shaft slag discharge face, the +320 m return air shaft had been constructed to +247.6 m, and the shaft wall was poured above the elevation of +249.5 m.

Second, the direct cause of the accident

After the shaft brush expansion construction blasting, the 3 slag cleaning workers of the + 249.5m shaft brush expansion platform did not tie their safety belts to the anti-fall device, and illegally risked standing on the ballast stone between the shaft wall and the inclined manhole cover to clean the ballast, and the ballast stone of the + 249.5m platform fell instantly while working in parallel with the shaft (bottom) + 230m chore hole. As a result, three ballast-cleaning workers fell to +230 meters with the ballast-stone at the entrance of the chute and were crushed and suffocated by the ballast-stone.

Three, the accident exposed the main problems

1. Construction project unit. Wuping Zijin outsourced project safety management is not in place, did not seriously carry out the +320 meters to +230 meters shaft construction safety inspection, resulting in the outsourcing of construction personnel in violation of operating procedures and other behaviors have not been effectively rectified. The "Construction organization Design of +320 m to +230 m return air shaft excavation branch project" prepared by the construction unit is not strictly checked, and the problems existing in the design are not found and supplemented in time; The implementation of the safety management system is not in place, the relevant safety management system is not formulated, the dual prevention mechanism of graded safety risk management and control and hidden danger investigation and treatment is not improved, and the risk identification is not carried out in the cleaning operation of the +320 meters to +230 meters shaft; The personnel management is not in place, the management personnel of Longjiangting Mine is not equipped as required, and the situation is mixed with other mine safety management personnel, and the deputy mine manager Zou Mou Yi does not have a professional degree in mining, and does not meet the qualifications to serve as the deputy mine manager.

2. Construction unit. Yiguang did not set up a safety production management organization, and Guo Yongzhi, head of the Longjiang Ting Mine project department, did not hold the safety production manager qualification certificate as required; The site safety management was chaotic, the cleaning operation in the shaft was not supervised by special personnel, the cleaning of the shaft and the unloading of the bottom of the chore at the same time, the workers' illegal operation was not found and stopped; There is no video surveillance system on the working face, ceiling and wellhead in the shaft, which makes it impossible to confirm the safety between the upper and lower operations. The content of construction organization and design is not perfect, the method is not scientific, and the measures are not strong. The safety technical measures are not formulated when the ballast rock fills the chute shaft to form the ballast rock platform and the chute is blocked, and the requirements such as "the working face at the bottom of the well, the ceiling, the wellhead and the ballast unloading platform should be set up by video surveillance system" are not clearly defined. Safety management personnel of Longjiangting Mine project Department never entered the + 320m to + 230m vertical shaft of Longjiangting mine to carry out hidden danger investigation, and failed to timely discover and rectify the hidden danger caused by the simultaneous operation of the mine's cleaning and the bottom of the chore.

3. Supervision unit. Fujian Zijin Engineering Technology Co., Ltd. did not seriously perform the duties of project construction supervision, failed to timely find and correct the safety management problems of the construction unit, and did not issue supervision notices for the problems found in the "+320 meters to +230 meters shaft without video surveillance" and "operators did not tie safety belts on the anti-fall device". Failure to urge the construction unit to immediately stop construction, rectify within a time limit and report to the relevant departments; Insufficient grasp of the "Safety Regulations for Metal and non-metal Mines" and "Criteria for the Determination of Major Accident Hazards in Metal and non-metal Mines", and failed to timely find and supplement the problems existing in the "Construction organization design of +320 m to +230 m return air shaft excavation Branch Project" in Longjiangting Mine.

4. Local governments and safety regulators. Wuping County Emergency Management Bureau did not strictly perform the duties of non-coal mine safety supervision, did not timely discover the existence of safety management system implementation is not in place, on-site safety management chaos and other problems, safety supervision is not in place. The people's government of Zhongpu Town did not strictly perform the supervision responsibility of non-coal mine mountains, and no problems were found when the hidden dangers of non-coal mine mountains were investigated in 2023. The people's government of Wuping County did not organize the compilation of the list of non-coal mine safety supervision responsibilities of relevant departments in accordance with the requirements of "three pipes and three requirements".

Iv. Accident investigation and handling

A total of 15 responsible personnel were held accountable for the accident. Among them, the deputy general manager of Yiguang Company and the deputy general manager of Longjiang Ting Mine project department (the actual controller of the project department construction contract), the project department manager, the project department deputy manager and the production captain and other three people were transferred to the public security organs for filing and handling; The general manager and deputy general manager of Wuping Zijin (in charge of production safety) and the legal representative of Yiguang Company (general manager) were respectively given administrative penalties; The general manager of production and operation of Zijin Group's International Division, the director and deputy safety director of Longjiangting Mine, the deputy manager of Longjiangting Mine Project Department of Yiguang Company (in charge of safety production), and the leader of site management were respectively organized and dealt with; The chief supervision engineer of Zijin Engineering Technology Company was transferred to the housing and construction department for further investigation and treatment; The deputy director of the Emergency Department of Wuping County (in charge of the safety supervision of non-coal mines), the head of the mine safety supervision unit, the member of the Party committee of Zhongbao Town of Wuping County and the Minister of the Ministry of Human Resources and Armed Forces were handed over to the supervision committee of the Discipline Inspection Commission of Wuping County.

Wuping Zijin and Yiguang Company shall be given administrative punishment by Longyan Emergency Management Bureau and the contracting qualification of Yiguang Company shall be cancelled; Other illegal issues in Fujian Zijin Engineering Technology Co., Ltd. were transferred to the housing and construction department for further investigation and treatment.

The Emergency Management Bureau of Wuping County was instructed to make a profound inspection to the People's Government of Wuping County, and the people's Government of Wuping County was instructed to make a profound inspection to the people's Government of Longyan City.