Sandstorm source is back in business

BEIJING - A major source of sandstorms in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region, which was given a multimillion-yuan cleanup ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, is once again dotted with polluting mining factories, according to a newspaper report.

The reopening of several mining factories in Xinghe county of Inner Mongolia may be one of the reasons for recent sandstorms that have blanketed northern China in dust, the Beijing News reported on Tuesday.

"There is certainly a connection between the mining industry and sandstorms, but how much sand is generated by mining is unknown," Chang Xing, head of Xinghe county Forestry Administration in Ulanqab, Inner Mongolia, told the newspaper.