Major News! The "China Mineral Resources Report (2020)" has been released. Check it out! Intercontinental Mining Yesterday
The Ministry of Natural Resources recently released the "China Mineral Resources Report (2020)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report"). The Report reveals that in 2019, nationwide geological exploration investment totaled 993.4 billion yuan, of which oil and gas geological exploration investment was 821.29 billion yuan, an increase of 29%; non-oil and gas geological exploration investment was 172.11 billion yuan, a decrease of 0.9%. Nationwide, 79 new mineral deposits were discovered, including 55 large and medium-sized deposits. By the end of 2019, reserves of 34 important mineral resources, including natural gas, manganese, and bauxite, had increased. Fixed asset investment in mining increased by 24.1%, and the output and consumption of 10 non-ferrous metals, gold, and cement continued to rank first in the world.
The Report points out that China has continuously increased its efforts in mine ecological restoration. Policies and measures have been studied and formulated to encourage and guide social capital investment in mine ecological restoration, implement major national strategic decisions, and deploy the ecological restoration of historically abandoned mines in key areas such as the Yangtze River Economic Belt, the Yellow River Basin, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, and the Fen-Wei Plain. Active efforts are being made to revise and improve green exploration standards and to carry out pilot projects for green exploration. Various regions have comprehensively promoted the construction of green mines through the formulation and implementation of plans, standards, and policies.
China's mineral resource management has been further improved. In December 2019, the Ministry of Natural Resources issued the "Opinions on Promoting Reforms in Mineral Resource Management (Trial)", making a series of major institutional innovations in establishing and implementing a mineral rights allocation system, optimizing the management of oil and gas mineral rights, and reforming the classification and management of mineral resources reserves;
The revised "Regulations on the Protection of Geological Environment of Mines" and the "Implementation Measures of the Land Reclamation Regulations" were also issued.
In 2020, China launched a new round of mineral resource planning, drafted relevant supervision and management measures for the geological exploration industry, implemented new mineral resource reserve classification standards, optimized the allocation methods for mineral rights, improved the fossil supervision system, and further improved the management level of mineral resources. After the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, the Ministry of Natural Resources introduced measures to implement the "six stability and six guarantees" requirements to help enterprises resume work and production.
The level of basic geological survey work has been further improved.
The construction of the pilot test area for natural gas hydrate exploration and development in the Shenhu area of the northern South China Sea continues to advance. Difficulties in deep-sea shallow-soft formation horizontal well drilling and production technology and equipment have been overcome, achieving a major leap from "exploratory testing" to "experimental testing," and successfully implementing a second round of testing. The collection of geological data has been further enriched, and geological data services have become more accurate, convenient, and efficient.
Significant research achievements have been made in the field of mineral resources.
New breakthroughs have been made in mineral formation theory and key technologies, promoting technological innovation in the field of mineral resources, and establishing several key laboratories and engineering technology innovation centers. Geological and mineral standardization work has been promoted, providing technical support for the high-quality development of the geological and mineral industry.
International cooperation in geology and minerals has been further strengthened.
Actively implementing the outcomes of the Second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, comprehensively promoting bilateral and multilateral cooperation in the field of geology and minerals, and further consolidating and developing pragmatic cooperation with relevant countries in the mining industry through international exchange platforms such as the China International Mining Conference and the China-ASEAN Mining Cooperation Forum.
The "China Mineral Resources Report (2020)" conducts in-depth research from ten perspectives: mineral resource reserves, mineral resource exploration, mineral resource development and utilization, mine ecological restoration and green development, mineral resource policies and regulations, mineral resource management, geological and mineral resource survey and evaluation, geological data management and services, technological innovation in the field of mineral resources, and international cooperation in the field of mineral resources.
