The Ministry of Natural Resources of China released the "China Mineral Resources Report (2023)" at the 2023 China International Mining Conference being held in Tianjin on the 26th. The report shows that in 2022, nearly 40% of China's mineral reserves will increase, and reserves of copper, lead, zinc, nickel, cobalt, lithium and other minerals will increase significantly.
The report shows that China has promoted the implementation of a new round of mineral prospecting breakthrough strategic actions with remarkable results, and its resource support capabilities have been further improved. In 2022, China's oil and gas and non-oil and gas mineral geological exploration investments will achieve double growth, with 132 new mineral deposits discovered.
It is worth noting that in 2022, China has made important progress in the exploration of many strategic minerals such as gold, lithium, and fluorite. Among them, Xiling Gold, the giant single gold deposit with the largest domestic resources, was discovered in Shandong Province. mine.
The report points out that as of the end of 2022, 173 types of minerals have been discovered in China, including 13 types of energy minerals, 59 types of metal minerals, 95 types of non-metallic minerals, and 6 types of water and gas minerals.
From the perspective of exploration investment, the report points out that in 2022, China's geological exploration investment will be 101.022 billion yuan (RMB, the same below), an increase of 3.8% over the previous year. Among them, the investment in oil and gas geological exploration was 82.387 billion yuan, an increase of 3.1%; the investment in non-oil and gas mineral geological exploration was 18.635 billion yuan, an increase of 7.2%, achieving positive growth for two consecutive years.
Non-oil and gas mineral exploration is dominated by coal (1.653 billion yuan), uranium (1.174 billion yuan), gold (1.071 billion yuan), copper (657 million yuan), lead and zinc (572 million yuan), accounting for 50% of the total investment in mineral exploration. 51.8%.
In 2022, China will further strengthen legislation in the field of mineral resource exploration and development and deepen the reform of the mining rights system. The report points out that the revision of the Mineral Resources Law in 2022 will continue to advance, and China will further standardize mining rights transfer transactions and revenue collection management, clarify matters related to the linkage of new land for mining projects and the reclamation and restoration of existing mining land, and relax restrictions on comprehensive exploration and mining. restrictions on rights transfer and other aspects, and streamline the approval and registration procedures and application requirements.
