浙江之源资产评估有限责任公司
Analysis of the Current Situation in the Geological Exploration Industry—Institute of Geological Exploration Industry, China Institute for Natural Resources Economics; Specialized Committee on Geological Exploration Industry, China Geological and Mineral Economic Society
Release time:
2024-09-19
Source:
Macroeconomic situation
As the global economy recovers, polarization is intensifying, and uncertainty remains. The global economy is experiencing slow growth as it recovers from the pandemic. Inflationary pressures have eased somewhat but remain persistent, while international trade and investment are gradually picking up, delivering overall performance that has been better than expected. However, the trend of economic divergence across the globe is becoming increasingly pronounced, and ongoing geopolitical conflicts continue to escalate. Coupled with the Federal Reserve’s sustained interest-rate hikes, these factors are intensifying volatility in global financial markets and introducing significant uncertainty into the world’s economic development.
China’s economy has achieved a qualitative leap in effectiveness and reasonable growth in quantity. China’s economy has maintained overall stability with steady progress, continuing its upward trend and showing signs of recovery and improvement. As of the end of June 2024, China’s gross domestic product (GDP) reached 61,683.6 billion yuan, representing a year-on-year increase of 5.0% at constant prices. From the supply side, industrial production grew relatively rapidly, and the service sector continued to recover, with the three major sectors working in synergy to support the economy’s stable and positive performance. On the demand side, domestic demand continued to pick up, and foreign trade exports showed strong growth momentum; the coordinated efforts of these three major demand drivers are jointly propelling the economy toward stable and positive development.
China remains a key engine of global economic growth. According to estimates by the Asian Development Bank, from 2024 to 2025, China is expected to contribute 46% of the growth in Asia’s developing economies. Bloomberg in the United States also forecasts that from 2024 to 2029, China’s share of global new economic activity will reach around 21%. With its own stable development, China is bringing certainty to an uncertain global economy and has become a key engine and stabilizing force for global economic growth.
Gold prices continue to rise, while prices of non-ferrous metals—copper, zinc, and nickel—have surged and then fallen back. Iron ore prices have rebounded, whereas lithium carbonate prices continue to decline. From January to August 2024, the trends in international market prices of bulk mineral commodities are shown in Figure 1. The significant rise in global gold prices has become one of the most important phenomena in the international financial markets in 2024, reflecting growing global economic uncertainty. After a sharp increase in the first quarter of 2024, gold prices—though still at historically high levels—began to show signs of slowing growth in the second quarter, influenced by the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate hikes. During this period, the London Bullion Market Association (LBMA) gold price fluctuated within the range of $2,100 to $2,400 per ounce. As the third quarter began, gold prices promptly embarked on a new upward trend. By late August, the LBMA gold price broke through the $2,500 per ounce mark, continuing to set new all-time highs. This indicates that investors’ risk-averse sentiment driven by increasing uncertainty about the global economic outlook and escalating geopolitical conflicts have outweighed the impact of continued monetary policy tightening in many countries. Looking at the longer term, this round of gold price appreciation cycle began in mid-August 2018, during which global gold prices rose from $1,178.16 per ounce to $2,516.05 per ounce—a gain of as much as 113.58%. Recently, the Federal Reserve has signaled potential interest-rate cuts, which will likely drive further increases in international gold prices.
In 2024, the iron ore market operated under downward pressure, with inventories continuing to build up and supply exceeding demand—a situation that persisted throughout the year. As a result, iron ore prices plummeted in the first quarter of 2024, with declines reaching as high as 30.65% at one point. However, entering the second quarter, iron ore prices began to rebound, and by the end of May, the price of 62% iron ore on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) had risen to $117.52 per ton.
(Data source: S&P Global Market Intelligence – Price Chart)
Figure 1 Global Price Changes of Bulk Mineral Commodities from December 2022 to August 2024
Note: In the legend, LBMA refers to the London Bullion Market Association; NYMEX refers to the New York Mercantile Exchange; and LME refers to the London Metal Exchange.
Driven by tight concentrate supplies and optimistic outlooks on demand, prices of nonferrous metals—copper, nickel, and zinc—began to rise in January 2024. By mid-to-late May, all three metals had reached their peak levels for this round of price increases. On May 20, the spot prices at the London Metal Exchange (LME) were as follows: Grade A spot copper at $10,800.81 per ton, spot nickel at $21,338.95 per ton, and 99.995% grade spot zinc at $3,085.92 per ton. Subsequently, influenced by factors such as a slowdown in global economic growth, increased uncertainty in trade conditions, and monetary policy adjustments in some countries, the prices of copper, nickel, and zinc all began to decline. In the long term, nickel remains the metal with the largest price drop, with its price at the end of August 2024 having fallen by 44.66% compared to the price at the beginning of January 2023. Recently, the Federal Reserve has clearly indicated that it is starting a cycle of interest-rate cuts, injecting upward momentum into commodity markets. As a result, prices of nonferrous metals—copper, zinc, and nickel—experienced a rebound and upward trend during the last week of August.
After a sharp price plunge in 2023, lithium carbonate prices hovered at a lower level of between US$13,000 and US$14,000 per tonne during the first half of 2024. Yet investor enthusiasm for lithium exploration and development remains undiminished. Oversupply of investment and production capacity has continued to drive lithium carbonate prices downward; by late August, the global average price of lithium carbonate had fallen to just US$10,627.52 per tonne (Figure 2). This has led to a substantial decline in the total market capitalization of the top 50 global mining companies whose primary business is lithium exploration and development.
(Data source: S&P Global Market Intelligence – Price Chart)
Figure 2 Global Lithium Carbonate Price Trends from December 2022 to August 2024
Prices of minor metals are rising across the board, potentially ushering in a historic market rally. Affected by factors such as environmental protection, production capacity of several minor metals has declined. At the same time, industries including photovoltaics, telecommunications, new-energy vehicles, and chips are developing rapidly, driving up demand for these minor metals. As a result, in 2024, prices of several minor metals—including antimony, bismuth, germanium, indium, and tellurium—have surged significantly, all reaching record highs. By late July, the price of antimony had risen to 152,600 yuan per ton, with an annual increase of 90.5%; the price of bismuth had climbed to 100,500 yuan per ton, representing an annual increase of 81.08%; the price of indium had risen to 2,990 yuan per kilogram, with an annual increase of 48.75%; and the price of germanium had climbed to 13,580 yuan per kilogram, with an annual increase of nearly 45%.
Mining Situation
The challenges facing global mining development are increasing, and the situation is becoming more complex. First, overall investment in mineral exploration has declined, yet investment in critical minerals remains robust, and exploration activities are spreading to an even wider range of regions. Meanwhile, an increasing number of countries are rolling out strategies for critical minerals, and deep-sea mining has become a key arena for geopolitical competition among major powers. Second, the market for mineral products is experiencing volatile and divergent trends, with supply shortages posing risks for bulk commodities. Third, mining companies are facing financing difficulties, leading to rising investment and operational risks. According to PwC’s recently released “2024 Global Mining Report,” in 2023, the financial performance of the world’s top 40 mining companies was squeezed by both falling commodity prices and rising costs, resulting in a revenue decline of over 7% and a contraction in profits. This downward trend is expected to continue into 2024.
Fixed-asset investment in China's mining industry continues to maintain robust growth. From January to July 2024, fixed-asset investment in China’s mining industry increased by 19.3% year-on-year, with the growth rate expanding by 4.9 percentage points compared to the beginning of the year. This growth rate was notably higher than the 2.1% recorded for the entire year 2023, continuing the strong upward momentum (Figure 3). By sub-sector, from January to July 2024, the nonferrous metal mining and beneficiation industry saw the largest increase in fixed-asset investment, rising by 39.9% year-on-year; however, the growth rate has shown a gradual narrowing trend. The ferrous metal mining and beneficiation industry recorded a year-on-year increase of 12.6% in fixed-asset investment, with the growth rate expanding by 8.3 percentage points compared to the first half of the year. The nonmetallic mineral mining and beneficiation industry saw a year-on-year increase of 27.7% in fixed-asset investment. Coal mining and washing industries grew by 10.5% year-on-year, though the growth rate narrowed by 6.1 percentage points compared to the first half of the year. The oil and gas extraction industry was the only sub-sector to experience negative growth, with fixed-asset investment declining by 0.8% year-on-year.
The downward trend in total profits of China's mining industry is gradually easing, and profits in some sub-sectors have shown a noticeable increase. From January to July 2024, China’s mining industry achieved total profits of 717.92 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 9.5%. The decline narrowed by 11.6 percentage points compared to the beginning of the year, and the downward trend in total profits has gradually eased (Figure 3). Among sub-industries, only coal mining and washing (-21.7%) and non-metallic mineral mining and processing (-5.6%) saw year-on-year declines in total profits; all other industries recorded total profits exceeding the levels of the same period last year. Specifically, black metal mining and processing achieved total profits of 38.25 billion yuan, representing the largest year-on-year increase (48.1%); non-ferrous metal mining and processing generated total profits of 51.36 billion yuan, up 13.7% year-on-year, with the growth rate showing a gradual upward trend; and oil and gas extraction achieved total profits of 238.37 billion yuan, up 5.3% year-on-year.
(Data source: Website of the National Bureau of Statistics)
Figure 3 From January to July 2024, China's fixed-asset investment in the mining industry increased year-on-year on a cumulative basis.
And the year-on-year growth in total profit.
Africa's lithium production from mines is expected to nearly double year-on-year in 2024. Data released by Benchmark Mineral Intelligence (BMI) indicate that Africa’s lithium production in 2024 is expected to nearly double year-on-year, boosting its contribution to global lithium production from 4% in 2023 to 10%. This substantial growth is largely driven by increased investment by Chinese companies in Africa. Moreover, BMI forecasts that within the next decade, more than 90% of lithium mining projects in Africa will be jointly controlled by Chinese enterprises.
BHP has become the world’s largest copper supplier. In May 2024, Australia’s BHP acquired Anglo American’s copper resources development business, instantly becoming the world’s largest copper supplier. Currently, BHP’s total market capitalization stands at approximately US$140 billion, and the company already wields significant global influence in the base metals and commodities sectors. It is worth noting that China ranks first in the world in terms of copper consumption, yet its supply security situation remains quite challenging, with external dependence still exceeding 70% in 2023. As the new energy industry continues to develop, China’s demand for copper—a strategic mineral resource—will show an upward trend.
Geological Exploration Situation
The Global Prospecting Activity Index (PAI) has slightly rebounded, but exploration activities remain in a sluggish state. In the first quarter of 2024, the global geological exploration activity index (excluding China’s geologic exploration-related economic data) showed a clear downward trend, indicating a cooling and sluggish phase in global exploration activities. Entering the second quarter, boosted by the gold mining exploration sector, the global PAI index rebounded, rising sharply to as high as 83 at one point, signaling a slow recovery. However, by June, the index had fallen back to 75. Overall, the index for the first half of 2024 remained at historically low levels, suggesting that global exploration activities have yet to escape the downturn that has persisted for nearly two years (Figure 4). Moreover, as the trend reveals, although fluctuations in bulk commodity prices significantly affect exploration activities, the transmission of these price changes to the risk exploration market tends to lag considerably.
The PAI Index is an indicator developed by S&P CIQ Pro to measure the overall level and direction of exploration activities. It combines key drilling results from mining companies, initial resource estimates announcements, significant financing events, positive project developments, and component indices for gold mines as well as base metal and other metal mines (excluding specialty metals) into a single, comparable index, calibrated with the index value set at 100 in May 2008. From April to July 2024, the number of mining companies included in the PAI Index calculation was 2,677, 2,682, 2,703, and 2,702, respectively; these figures do not include data related to Chinese mining companies or geological survey institutions.
(Data source: S&P Global Market Intelligence - IM August 2024)
Figure 4 Changes in the Global Mining Companies’ Geological Exploration Activity Index, Exploration Price Index, and Total Market Capitalization from June 2022 to July 2024
The Global Exploration Price Index (EPI) is more directly influenced by fluctuations in bulk commodity prices. From January to July 2024, the trend of the EPI closely mirrored that of bulk commodity prices, remaining on an upward trajectory since January and breaking through the 200 mark in May, reaching a historical high. Subsequently, in July, the index dropped slightly to 193. However, the sustained high level of the EPI does not necessarily indicate an active exploration market (Figure 4). In July 2024, the total market capitalization of 2,702 mining companies worldwide reached US$2.22 trillion, representing a slight year-on-year increase.
The EPI Index is an indicator used by S&P CIQ Pro to measure the relative changes in prices of precious and base metals. It is weighted by the percentage of total exploration expenditures for each mineral type, thereby reflecting the relative importance of each mineral to the industry at a given time. The index covers eight mineral commodities, including gold, copper, nickel, zinc, silver, platinum, cobalt, and molybdenum. The EPI Index is also influenced by fluctuations in metal prices and is calibrated such that its value in May 2008 is set at 100. From April to July 2024, the number of mining companies included in the EPI Index calculation was 2,677, 2,682, 2,703, and 2,702, respectively; these figures do not include data related to Chinese mining companies or geological survey institutions.
The PAI index for gold mines has consistently remained significantly higher than that for other types of minerals, indicating that exploration activities in gold mines are a key factor influencing changes in the PAI index. In the first half of 2024, the PAI index for gold mines fluctuated between 92 and 110, with the index value reaching 103 in July. Overall, the index remains at a historically moderate level, suggesting that global gold mine exploration activities have not been as robust as the continuously soaring gold prices. The underlying reason for this trend lies in the ongoing reduction of exploration budgets (Figure 5), which further confirms the overall sluggish state of the exploration market.
(Data source: S&P Global Market Intelligence - IM August 2024)
Figure 5 June 2022 – July 2024: Gold Mining PAI Index for Global Mining Companies Price Index Changes for Base Metal Ores/Other Metal Ores – PAI
The number of actively progressing projects increased year-on-year, while the number of significant drilling results declined noticeably. From January to July 2024, the number of projects showing positive progress among global mining companies totaled 35, representing a year-on-year increase of 20.69%. The second quarter made a particularly significant contribution, with as many as 9 projects demonstrating positive progress in July—the highest monthly figure since September 2022. Meanwhile, the number of projects experiencing negative progress rose by only 2 year-on-year, indicating an overall relatively favorable performance (Figure 6). From January to July 2024, the cumulative number of significant drilling results reported by global mining companies reached 849, marking a noticeable decline compared to the 1,161 results recorded during the same period in 2023. These two sets of data suggest that global exploration activities are currently at a complex juncture—showing signs of an emerging upward trend yet remaining in a relatively subdued state.
(Data source: S&P Global Market Intelligence - IM August 2024)
Figure 6 Progress Status of Active Projects by Global Mining Companies from June 2022 to July 2024
Note: In the legend, Fea stands for Feasibility, indicating that the project has entered the feasibility study phase; Pre stands for Preproduction, representing the stage prior to the project’s commissioning; Prd refers to Production, signifying that the project has entered the production phase. Solid-line legends indicate projects making positive progress, represented by positive values; dashed-line legends indicate projects making negative progress, represented by negative values. EPI stands for Exploration Price Index.
Of the nine projects that registered positive progress in July 2014, six focused on gold mines, while one each focused on zinc, nickel, and silver. Among these, notable achievements include: Indevor Mining Company of the UK completing its first-ever smelting and casting at the Fetekr gold mine in Côte d'Ivoire; Zgounde Silver Mine in Morocco, expanded by Canadian company Iamgold Corporation, successfully completing its first-ever silver casting; G Mining Company of Canada announcing that its Tocantizinho gold project in Brazil has completed its first-ever gold casting; and Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. of Canada resuming operations at the Kipushi zinc-copper-lead-germanium mine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Initial resource estimates for non-ferrous metals copper and nickel have seen some gains, but overall, there has been no significant breakthrough. According to the initial resource estimates released by S&P CIQ Pro, from January to July 2024, global mining companies issued a total of 28 announcements, down from 42 during the same period in 2023. In terms of reported resource volumes, although copper and nickel showed slight gains in July 2024, overall the performance lacked the significant breakthroughs seen in 2023. Regarding precious metals, from January to July 2024, the cumulative reported initial resources for gold mines totaled 17.2532 million ounces, markedly lower than the 27.6221 million ounces reported during the same period in 2023; of this amount, 8.254 million ounces were reported in June. For silver mines, the cumulative reported initial resources reached 46.0881 million ounces, significantly below the 142.1743 million ounces reported in the same period of 2023, with the vast majority of these resources reported in the first quarter of 2024. As for base metals, from January to July 2024, the cumulative reported initial resources for copper mines totaled 2.0186 million tons, representing a slight year-on-year increase, largely driven by the 1.2147 million tons reported in July. Lead-zinc mines reported a cumulative total of 936,800 tons, marking the largest year-on-year decline (74.90%). Nickel mines reported a cumulative total of 1.2330 million tons, with particularly strong performance in July, when 1.0872 million tons were reported alone (Figure 7).
(Data source: S&P Global Market Intelligence - IM August 2024)
Figure 7 Initial Resource Estimates Announcement by Global Mining Companies, June 2022 – July 2024
Financing for junior and mid-tier mining companies has shown some recovery, while the risk exploration market remains volatile. Junior and mid-tier mining companies are the primary players in early-stage exploration, and their financing trends largely reflect investors’ confidence in the exploration market. Compared to the relatively robust financing performance in the first quarters of 2022 and 2023, global financing for junior and mid-tier mining companies in the first quarter of 2024 was rather subdued, with total funding reaching only 1.43 billion U.S. dollars and the number of funded projects totaling 500—a median issuance size of roughly 2.86 million U.S. dollars. All three indicators hit new lows for the same period over the past three years. Entering the second quarter, exploration financing rebounded sharply, with April and May each seeing funding surpassing 1.1 billion U.S. dollars—a strong performance when compared to data from the previous three years. However, June and July saw consecutive declines, with July raising just 570 million U.S. dollars (Figure 8). This suggests that, influenced by global economic uncertainties, investor confidence in the exploration market has been volatile and unpredictable. Although exploration market activity has stopped declining continuously, the recovery remains highly uncertain.
(Data source: S&P Global Market Intelligence - IM August 2024)
Figure 8 Global Financing Situation for Primary and Secondary Mining Companies from June 2022 to July 2024
Note: Junior and mid-level mining companies primarily focus on high-risk mineral exploration, with their exploration expenditures accounting for more than 60% of total overseas solid-mineral exploration investments. They are the mainstay of the commercial mineral exploration market. In contrast, senior mining companies engage in exploration activities to a much lesser extent, and their exploration funds are typically raised through internal company resources rather than relying on external financing from the market. Therefore, the financing amounts secured by junior and mid-level mining companies largely reflect the overall financing level of the global exploration market.
Looking at the financing situation for different types of minerals, from January to July 2024, gold mining financing totaled US$2.247 billion, a decrease of US$475 million year-on-year, accounting for 41.77% of the total financing amount—a slight rebound in proportion. The financing for base metal and other metal mines totaled US$1.867 billion, showing a slight year-on-year increase and accounting for 34.70% of the total financing amount. Special metals mining accounted for the lowest share, with cumulative financing reaching US$1.266 billion, down 26.14% year-on-year (Figure 8).
The number of drilling projects and the number of reported drill holes by global mining companies continued to decline year-on-year. From January to July 2024, the cumulative number of drilling projects undertaken by global mining companies totaled only 1,618, a year-on-year decrease of 25.02%. The cumulative number of drill holes reported reached 26,429, down 28.2% from the previous year (Figure 9). The number of drilling projects and drill holes are the most direct indicators of exploration activity levels. The continued decline in these two metrics confirms that exploration activities have yet to emerge from their sluggish state.
(Data source: S&P Global Market Intelligence - IM August 2024)
Figure 9 Global Drilling Activity from June 2022 to July 2024
A total of 843 gold mine drilling projects have been completed. Although this still represents the largest share (52.10%), it has decreased by 182 projects year-on-year. A total of 252 copper mine drilling projects have been completed, accounting for 15.57% of the total—down 19.75% from the previous year. A total of 133 lead-zinc mine drilling projects have been completed, representing the smallest share (8.22%), unchanged from the same period in 2023. Finally, a total of 254 special-mineral-drilling projects have been completed, down 72 projects year-on-year.
National Geological Exploration Industry Updates
The new round of strategic actions for breakthroughs in mineral exploration is achieving positive progress across various regions. The Department of Natural Resources of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has actively raised funds and, based on thorough investigation and research, optimized the allocation of these funds. A total of 395 million yuan has been pooled to support exploration of strategic minerals and mineral resources urgently needed by industries within the autonomous region, yielding phased results. The region has newly discovered 34 strategic mineral deposits, significantly increasing reserves of a number of strategic minerals including indium, antimony, tin, manganese, and rare earth elements. Among the 10 strategic mineral types assigned to Guangxi by the state, five have already exceeded their targets ahead of schedule. In Fujian Province, a granitic pegmatite-type polymetallic lithium deposit has been discovered, preliminarily estimated to be at a medium-sized or larger scale, with promising exploration potential both at depth and in surrounding areas. This discovery not only fills the province’s gap in lithium resources but also expands the scope for lithium resource exploration in China. The Coal Geology Bureau of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region has been approved for funding amounting to 21.676 million yuan under the new round of the Strategic Action Plan for Mineral Exploration Breakthroughs, earmarked for the exploration of two coal projects in Ningxia.
The Ministry of Natural Resources has issued a document encouraging geological exploration units and mining enterprises to submit proposals for exploration blocks. To promote strategic mineral exploration, support the increase in reserves and production of strategic minerals, and enhance domestic resource security capabilities, the Ministry of Natural Resources has issued the “Notice on Encouraging Geological Exploration Units and Mining Enterprises to Submit Exploration Block Proposals and Promoting Strategic Mineral Exploration” (Natural Resources Office Document [2024] No. 32). This document sets forth specific provisions regarding encouraging the submission of proposals for strategic mineral exploration blocks, strengthening the verification of such proposals, and ensuring effective allocation of exploration blocks.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and the National Forestry and Grassland Administration have issued the "Notice on Fully Implementing Green Exploration in the New Round of Mineral Exploration Breakthrough Strategic Action." In the process of deeply implementing the new round of strategic actions for breakthroughs in mineral exploration, it is imperative to improve the green exploration standards system, enhance the technological and equipment levels for green exploration, enforce even stricter green exploration requirements within ecological protection redlines, and strengthen the protection and restoration of the ecological environment at project sites. This will ensure that the comprehensive implementation of green exploration promotes high-level ecological protection and high-quality development in the mining sector.
The Ministry of Natural Resources has issued the "Guiding Opinions on Strengthening Equipment Development for the New Round of Mineral Exploration Breakthrough Strategic Initiative." Equipment development is a key driving force behind the new round of strategic actions for breakthroughs in mineral exploration. However, the current equipment levels of China's geological survey institutions fall short of meeting the new demands of mineral exploration, making it difficult to fully support the promotion of green exploration practices. To address this challenge, the Ministry of Natural Resources has issued the "Guiding Opinions on Strengthening Equipment Development for the New Round of Strategic Actions for Mineral Exploration Breakthroughs" (Document No. [2024] 845 of the Office of the Ministry of Natural Resources), which outlines three key tasks: accelerating the upgrading, research and development, promotion, and replacement of mineral exploration equipment; strengthening the construction and application of green exploration equipment; and advancing the industrialization of exploration equipment. These measures aim to expedite, in the short term, the renewal and widespread adoption of efficient and cost-effective exploration equipment, thereby actively promoting green exploration efforts. In the long term, they seek to narrow the gap with advanced international equipment standards and address urgently needed critical technological equipment challenges.
Jiangsu Province is promoting high-quality development in the management of the geological exploration industry. Following the issuance of supporting documents related to the “Guiding Opinions of the Ministry of Natural Resources on Promoting High-Quality Development of the Geological Exploration Industry” (Natural Resources Issuance [2021] No. 71) by provinces including Heilongjiang, Shandong, Sichuan, and Shaanxi, in April 2024, the Department of Natural Resources of Jiangsu Province released the “Implementation Opinions on Promoting High-Quality Development of the Geological Exploration Industry” (Su Natural Resources Issuance [2024] No. 81), which emphasizes the need to correctly grasp the new opportunities and challenges facing the geological exploration industry in the new era. Grounded in serving ecological civilization construction, ensuring energy and resource security, and strengthening geological safety guarantees, the document calls for deepening innovative practices that integrate mining and land resources, continuously expanding the scope of geological work, and establishing a new pattern for the development of Jiangsu’s geological exploration industry—one that is sustainable and aligned with the new era’s tasks and requirements—and thus contributing geological expertise to Jiangsu’s new practice of Chinese-style modernization.
Henan Province has established a geological exploration fund with a total scale of 10 billion yuan. At the 2024 China Prospecting Annual Conference, Henan Province Geological Exploration Fund was officially announced, with a total fund size of 10 billion yuan. It is reported that the Henan Provincial Geological Exploration Fund is led by the Provincial Department of Natural Resources and jointly initiated by Yudi Technology Group and the Provincial Natural Resources Investment Group. The fund will focus its investments primarily on strategically scarce minerals and key minerals that support economic development. It will operate under a model characterized by "capitalized investment, market-oriented operations, professional decision-making, enterprise-based management, and industrialized development," aiming to further enhance the capacity to secure mineral resource factors, promote the prosperity and development of the mining market, and serve and safeguard the high-quality economic and social development of Henan Province.
The reform of the geological exploration system in Jiangsu Province is accelerating. In June 2024, 18 public institutions and the bureau-affiliated enterprise group under the Jiangsu Provincial Bureau of Geology held a joint unveiling ceremony in Nanjing, marking the beginning of a new chapter in the reform and development of Jiangsu’s geological undertakings. The 18 institutions unveiled this time, together with the Jiangsu Provincial Institute of Geological Survey—established through an unveiling ceremony in 2022—have jointly created a new organizational structure for geological exploration, comprising comprehensive scientific research institutions, comprehensive geological survey institutions, and specialized geological survey institutions. Meanwhile, the bureau-affiliated enterprise group has undergone further integration and optimization, ultimately forming a new management system of “Bureau—Institute—Group,” thereby establishing a new pattern for Jiangsu’s geological work characterized by clearly defined responsibilities and mutual synergies.
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