Driving Forces for the Spatial Reconstruction of Rural Settlements in Mountainous Areas based on Structural Equation Models: A Case Study in Western China

Rural settlement development in mountainous areas is the key to eliminating global hunger and poverty. The spatial reconstruction of rural settlements in mountainous areas can promote rural development in mountainous areas. In this study, the Panxi area—a typical mountainous area in China—was chosen as the study area. The driving forces for the spatial reconstruction of rural settlements in mountainous areas were explored from the perspective of peasant households by combining participatory rural appraisal (PRA) with structural equation modeling (SEM). Results showed that: (1) 62.03% of the 266 peasant households included were willing to have spatial reconstruction, indicating that most peasant households in mountainous areas have a very strong intention towards the spatial reconstruction of rural settlements. (2) Infrastructure, medical conditions, living environment, farming culture, and dietary habits significantly influenced the reconstruction intention of peasant households. In contrast, development opportunities, place attachment, language, and living mode each had a slight influence. (3) Geological disasters were the main driving force for the spatial reconstruction of rural settlements in mountainous areas, whilst the driving force of living cohesion was the smallest. This study provides insights for future planning and construction of rural settlements in the Panxi area and spatial reconstruction practices. It has important practical significance for overcoming poverty and realizing rural revitalization in mountainous areas.

A New Process of Extracting Titanium from Vanadium–Titanium Magnetite

A new process of extracting titanium from vanadium–titanium magnetite (VTM) in the Panxi area in Sichuan, China is introduced in this work. Various experiments, including reduction–magnetic separation, leaching and hydrolyzing experiments, are carried out. The results show that the optimum conditions for leaching experiments are an acid/slag ratio of 4:1, a leaching temperature of 60 °C, a leaching time of 80 min, and a liquid/solid ratio of 3.2:1. The leaching rate of titanium in Ti-bearing slag is 92.41%. The optimum conditions for hydrolyzing experiments are an H+ concentration of 0.75 g·L−1, hydrolyzing temperature of 100 °C, and hydrolyzing time of 180 min, and the hydrolyzing rate of titanium in acid leaching liquor is 96.80%. After the leaching and hydrolyzing experiments, the recovery rate of titanium from the Ti-bearing slag is 89.45%.

Problems and Suggestions for Health and Wellness Tourism at Panxi, China

Health and wellness tourism (HWT) comes from health tourism, which is a form of tourism that maintains and enhances physical and mental health. With the coming of the aging society, government departments are also facing many problems in promoting the development of health tourism industry. This study aims at verifying the problems and offering some suggestions through literature review and a field survey at Pan Zhihua City and Miyi County of southwest China. Through the field survey, this study finds that the problems of health and wellness tourism in Panxi area of China are mainly in transportation, infrastructure, tourism resources, activity planning, medical resources and management system. Based on the conclusions, suggestions like strengthen the health tourism project delivery and activities were recommended.

An Investigation on the Present Situation of Wild Rhododendron Resources and Its Tourism Development and Utilization in Panxi Area

Panxi region is an important origin and distribution center of wild Rhododendron spp., which has important ornamental and tourism development value. This study investigated the present situation of wild Rhododendron resources in Sichuan Province, and analyzed the species number, horizontal distribution, vertical distribution, correlation with existing scenic spots and traffic accessibility, and put forward the prospect and suggestions of making full use of the rich wild Rhododendron resources in Panxi area for tourism development and boosting rural revitalization.

Recovering Scandium from Scandium Rough Concentrate Using Roasting-Hydrolysis-Leaching Process

In this study, a roasting-hydrolysis-acid leaching process is used to extract scandium from the scandium rough concentrate. The scandium rough concentrate containing Sc2O3 of 76.98 g/t was obtained by magnetic separation, gravity separation, and electric separation from Sc-bearing Vi-Ti magnetite tailings in the Panxi area of China. The majority of scandium in scandium rough concentrate mainly occurs in diopside, titanopyroxene, montmorillonite, chlorite, talc, aluminosilicate minerals, and isomorphism. Sodium salt and scandium coarse concentrate are added into the roasting furnace for roasting, which makes the fusion reaction of silicon, aluminum and sodium salt to produce soluble salts such as sodium silicate and sodium metaaluminate. Scandium is further recovered from the hydrolysis residue by acid leaching. Test results show scandium leaching recovery of 95.12% and the acid leaching residue with Sc2O3 content of 8.12 g/t are obtained, while the extraction of scandium is obvious. There is no obvious peak value of Scandium spectrum in hydrochloric acid leach residue. Most of scandium in hydrolytic residue is dissolved into Sc3+ and enters into the liquid phase. The main minerals in leach residue are perovskite, ferric silicate, and olivine.

Extraction of Cobalt and Iron from Refractory Co-Bearing Sulfur Concentrate

In this study, oxidizing roasting, segregation roasting, and magnetic separation are used to extract cobalt and iron from refractory Co-bearing sulfur concentrate. The Co-bearing sulfur concentrate containing 0.68% Co, 33.26% Fe, and 36.58% S was obtained from V-Ti magnetite in the Panxi area of China by flotation. Cobalt pyrite and linneite were the Co-bearing minerals, and the gangue minerals were mica, chlorite, feldspar, and calcite in Co-bearing sulfur concentrate. The results show that cobalt is transformed from Co-pyrite and linneite to a Co2FeO4-dominated new cobalt mineral phase, and iron is transformed from pyrite to Fe2O3 and an Fe3O4-dominated new iron mineral phase after oxidizing roasting. Cobalt changed from CoFe2O4 to a new cobalt mineral phase dominated by [Co] Fe solid solution, and iron changed from Fe2O3 to a new iron mineral phase dominated by metal Fe and Fe3O4 after segregation roasting. Cobalt concentrate with a cobalt grade of 15.15%, iron content of 71.22%, and cobalt recovery of 90.81% as well as iron concentrate with iron grade of 60.06%, cobalt content of 0.11%, and iron recovery of 76.23% are obtained. The main minerals in the cobalt concentrate are Fe, [Co]Fe, Fe3O4, and SiO2, and the main minerals in the iron concentrate are Fe3O4, FeO, Ca2Si2O4, and Ca2Al2O4.

A New Approach for Multifunctional Zoning of Territorial Space: The Panxi Area of the Upper Yangtze River in China Case Study

Multifunctional zoning is the primary basis for developing differentiated spatial planning systems and management policies of territorial spaces. The purpose of the paper is to generate an integrated multifunctional zoning scheme of the territorial space in Panxi by employing the functional significance assessment funded on the niche theory and its measurement models, in order to benefit the high efficiency land utilization and other socioeconomic development initiatives, such as the industrial poverty alleviation and mountainous urbanization in the regional scale. In this paper, the six main functions of territorial space were selected and the corresponding index systems were established for the Panxi Area. First, the significances of six territorial functions were evaluated using two niche models. Second, the K-means clustering method was employed to cluster the functional significance grades, acquiring the integrated multifunctional zoning scheme after qualitative adjustment. The results showed that the spatial distribution characteristics of the functional significance for territorial spaces were different. Prominent regions with higher functional significance of agricultural production were concentrated in the vicinity of the Anning River Basin. The distributions of higher significance for industrial development and mineral resources supply functions were correlated with the overall economic development in the Panxi Area. The regions with higher functional significance for tourism & leisure showed advantages on tourist attractions’ quality. The regions with higher significance for habitat service and ecosystem services functions presented advantages on good livability and ecological conditions. The integrated multifunctional zoning scheme for territorial space was highly in consistence with the Major Function Oriented Zoning of Sichuan Province and the “Thirteen Five” Development Plan for Panxi Economic Zone. Generally, the results indicated the rationality and feasibility of the research method, which provides a theoretical basis for coordinating and shaping the structure and pattern of territorial spaces, especially in the mountainous environment with distinct geographical as well as functional differences.