On January 14th, the Ministry of Natural Resources of China announced key outcomes from its latest strategic mineral exploration initiatives, significantly enhancing the country's energy and resource security.
Source: People's Daily
On January 14th, the Ministry of Natural Resources of China announced key outcomes from its latest strategic mineral exploration initiatives, significantly enhancing the country's energy and resource security.
The development of deep coalbed methane has accelerated, with geological reserves now exceeding 500 billion cubic meters. A global first, an ultra-deepwater, ultra-shallow layer large gas field has been discovered, adding over 100 billion cubic meters to proven natural gas reserves. Additionally, 10 new billion-ton oil fields and 19 trillion-cubic-meter gas fields have been identified. The Sanmenxia Basin's breakthroughs in oil and gas surveys serve as a model for exploration in other small and medium-sized basins nationwide.
There has been a substantial increase in uranium resources, with 10 large deposits discovered, including a super-large uranium mine in Jingchuan, Gansu Province.
Significant advancements have been made in exploring key minerals such as copper, aluminum, and iron. Minerals critical to strategic emerging industries, including lithium, zirconium, hafnium, helium, and rare earth elements, have also shown major progress, reinforcing the security of China’s industry and supply chains. The resources of key minerals like tungsten, molybdenum, antimony, fluorspar, and graphite have grown significantly, further consolidating China's resource advantages.
In 2024, over 1,400 strategic mineral exploration blocks will be made available nationwide, achieving a ten-year record. Increased investments from central and local governments have spurred private sector investment in mineral exploration. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, a total of 400 billion yuan has been allocated to mineral exploration, with 92% coming from private capital.
Moving forward, the Ministry will continue to advance strategic mineral exploration initiatives, emphasizing technological innovation and talent development to foster new capacities in the mining sector.