In 2017, under the guidance of the new development philosophy, China’s mineral resource management actively supported economic and social development and the construction of ecological civilization. New progress was made in areas such as improving the system for granting mining rights, promoting the unified confirmation of ownership over explored and proven mineral resources, fully implementing the system of public disclosure of exploration and mining information by mining right holders, and advancing ecological civilization in the mining sector.

　　Improve the system for the transfer of mining rights.

　　Since China’s economy entered a “new normal,” under the guiding principles of the State Council—streamlining administration and delegating power, combining deregulation with regulation, optimizing services, and deepening supply-side structural reform—new and higher demands have been placed on the allocation of public resources. As one form of public resource allocation, the reform of the mineral rights transfer system has been elevated to the level of a comprehensive reform initiative. In mid-February 2017, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued the “Plan for Reforming the Mineral Rights Transfer System.”

　　The reform of the mineral rights transfer system addresses issues such as insufficient market competition, inadequate implementation of paid use, and an imperfect institutional framework. It aims to shift the role of the market in mineral resource allocation—from a foundational role to a decisive one—while also enhancing the government’s role to promote fair and just allocation of mineral resources and improve allocation efficiency.

　　The “Reform Plan” clearly states that the key focus of this reform of the mineral rights transfer system is to improve the competitive bidding system for mineral rights and strictly limit the practice of transferring mineral rights through agreements; to delegate approval authority downward; and to strengthen regulatory services.

　　Improving the competitive bidding system for mineral rights means fully promoting the competitive allocation of mineral rights. Except in special cases such as negotiated transfers, all other mineral rights must be publicly allocated through tendering, auction, and listing procedures, allowing the market to assess exploration and mining risks and determine the revenue generated from the transfer of mineral rights. The practice of negotiated transfers of mineral rights will be strictly restricted, with the scope of such transfers being tightly controlled. The five scenarios previously permitted for negotiated transfers have been reduced to just two. Approval authority will also be devolved: After the reform, the Ministry of Natural Resources will be responsible for approving prospecting and mining rights for six types of minerals—petroleum, hydrocarbon gas, shale gas, radioactive minerals, tungsten, and rare earths—and will continue to approve mining rights for coal reserves exceeding 1 billion tons, as well as coalbed methane, gold, iron, copper, aluminum, tin, antimony, molybdenum, phosphorus, and potassium—minerals whose resource reserves are classified as large-scale or above. All other mineral rights previously approved by the Ministry of Natural Resources will now be delegated to provincial-level natural resources authorities. A pilot program for the reform of the mineral rights allocation system has been launched in six provinces (or autonomous regions): Shanxi, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hubei, Guizhou, and Xinjiang. According to reports, each pilot province (or autonomous region) has formulated work plans in accordance with central directives and tailored to local conditions, making explorations in areas such as perfecting the competitive bidding system for mineral rights, restricting negotiated transfers, adjusting approval authority, and strengthening regulatory services.

　　In addition, in 2017, oil and gas resource management made active explorations in areas such as competitive bidding for exploration rights and market liberalization. In August 2017, the Ministry of Natural Resources entrusted the People's Government of Guizhou Province to carry out the bidding process for exploration rights in the Zheng’an shale gas exploration block. Ultimately, Guizhou Industry Investment (Group) Co., Ltd. won the exploration rights for this block at a bid price of 1.29 billion yuan. With this transaction, the first-ever auction of shale gas exploration rights nationwide was successfully concluded. In November 2017, also under the entrustment of the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Shanxi Provincial Department of Natural Resources signed exploration right transfer contracts separately with the eight companies that had won bids for coalbed methane exploration blocks. This marked Shanxi’s first-ever implementation of market-based allocation of domestic coalbed methane resources and signaled the official entry of China’s coalbed methane resources into a new era of market-oriented allocation. According to reports, in 2018, Shanxi Province will continue to deepen the pilot reform of coalbed methane mining rights approval and further expand the degree of market-based allocation of resources.

　　Promote the unified registration and confirmation of ownership rights for mineral resources with proven reserves.

　　Carrying out unified property rights registration for mineral resources with proven reserves represents an institutional innovation.

　　The unified registration of property rights over mineral resources with proven reserves is an important component of the unified registration of property rights over natural resources. It is a key task identified by the Central Leading Group for Deepening Reform and represents a crucial measure for comprehensively advancing ecological civilization construction. In March 2017, the Ministry of Natural Resources issued the "Work Plan for Piloting the Unified Registration of Property Rights over Mineral Resources with Proven Reserves," selecting Fujian and Guizhou provinces as pilot regions to carry out the unified registration of ownership rights over mineral resources with proven reserves. This initiative aims to explore pathways and methods for the unified registration of mineral resource ownership rights, thereby promoting the work of mineral resource rights registration in a proactive yet prudent manner.

　　The “Plan” clearly states that the registration of property rights over mineral resources shall adhere to five fundamental principles: First, uphold the principle of state ownership of mineral resources, taking “clarifying the inventory, establishing accounts, and building a platform” as the primary tasks. Conduct property rights registration for mineral resources, delineate boundaries among different types of mineral resources, and clearly define the boundaries of ownership exercised by governments at various central and local levels. Second, adhere to the statutory nature of property rights, determining the types and contents of property rights for mineral resources with proven reserves in accordance with legal provisions, and carrying out unified property rights registration. Third, adopt a coordinated and comprehensive approach, leaving room for related reforms and ensuring smooth transitions based on the current management system and structure of mineral resources. Fourth, take real estate registration as the foundation, establish a system for registering property rights over mineral resources, and achieve an organic integration between mineral resource property rights registration and real estate registration. Fifth, uphold the direction of reform toward a socialist market economy.

　　The “Plan” specifies that the pilot phase for mineral resource rights confirmation and registration will run from March 2017 to February 2018, while the evaluation and acceptance phase will take place from March to June 2018. To address the limitation of a small number of pilot areas, the Ministry of Natural Resources conducted a unified survey on the confirmation of proven reserves of mineral resources between June and July 2017. This survey covered 16 provinces—including Sichuan, Hubei, and Guangdong—as well as five oil and gas companies, namely CNPC, Sinopec, and CNOOC, further fostering consensus, pinpointing key issues, and clarifying the approach to the work. Currently, the pilot programs in Fujian and Guizhou provinces have achieved phased results.

　　Fully implement the system for publicly disclosing exploration and mining information of mining right holders.

　　Establishing a system for publicizing information on mining rights holders is a clear requirement set forth in the Central Government’s “Overall Plan for Reform of the Ecological Civilization System,” and represents a major reform of China’s mineral resource supervision and management system. As 2017 marked the first year of fully rolling out the nationwide initiative to publicly disclose information on mineral exploration and mining activities, significant progress was made in China’s efforts to publicize information on mining rights holders. By the end of November 2017, more than 90 percent of the exploration projects and mining sites required to be disclosed nationwide had already been publicly announced. All provinces generally conducted on-site inspections of verification subjects in accordance with the “double-random, one-public” principle. Credit-based regulatory efforts began to take shape, and the public disclosure of exploration and mining information for 1,704 oil and gas projects across the country was successfully completed.

　　The system for publicizing information on mining rights holders is a comprehensive institutional framework comprising the public disclosure of mining rights holder information, information verification, and information management. It covers a wide range of information categories, including exploration, mining, reserves, environmental issues, law enforcement, land reclamation in mining areas, and collection of regulatory fees. According to exchange materials submitted by various provinces and preliminary statistics compiled by the Department’s Reserves Division: As of now, there should be 27,681 exploration projects publicly disclosed nationwide, with 25,946 actually disclosed—a disclosure rate of 93.73%. There should be 68,447 mines publicly disclosed, with 62,519 actually disclosed—a disclosure rate of 91.34%. The provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) of Tianjin, Hebei, Liaoning, Jilin, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, Shandong, Hubei, Chongqing, Qinghai, and Ningxia all have exploration and mining disclosure rates exceeding 95%.

　　The public disclosure of information on mining rights holders is a fundamental task in mineral resource management. The authenticity and accuracy of the information submitted are the lifeblood of the information-disclosure system. In 2017, provinces across the country generally followed the principle of “double randomization and one public disclosure,” randomly selecting exploration projects and mining sites for inspection. Inspection experts were also randomly drawn from a pool of experts, and the list of randomly selected sites was made publicly available, enabling on-site inspections to be carried out. According to statistics, through both random and targeted inspections, a total of 2,187 exploration projects and 6,073 mines nationwide were selected for spot checks, and the lists of these inspected sites were publicly disclosed, resulting in a spot-check rate of 9.34%.

　　In the course of implementation, some provinces have integrated information disclosure efforts with the system of mineral inspectors. During on-site inspections, provinces such as Anhui, Guangdong, Shandong, Henan, and Guangxi have combined information disclosure with the work of mineral inspectors, incorporating mineral inspectors into their provincially established pools of inspection experts to provide technical support for inspection activities.

　　The information disclosure system for mining rights holders represents a significant institutional reform, and in actual management practice, it has already begun to demonstrate certain effectiveness. Some mining rights holders have expressed positive feedback on the information disclosure system, noting that it reflects the government departments’ commitment to serving the public. The implementation of the information disclosure system for mining rights holders has initially achieved three key shifts: moving from comprehensive, blanket supervision in the past to targeted, focused oversight; transitioning from passive supervision to proactive supervision; and shifting from mining rights holders having to physically travel for annual inspections to submitting reports online.

　　Accelerate the pace of ecological civilization construction in the mining sector and strengthen policy support and standard-setting.

　　Since 2017, China has accelerated the pace of ecological civilization construction in the mining sector, carried out cleanup of mining rights within protected areas, and strengthened policy support and standard-setting for the development of green mining.

　　To thoroughly implement the major decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee and the State Council on accelerating the construction of an ecological civilization, as well as the important instructions from central leaders, in July 2017, the Ministry of Natural Resources issued the “Work Plan for Clearing Mining Rights within Nature Reserves,” deciding to launch a comprehensive cleanup of mining rights in various types of protected areas. The core of this initiative focuses on national-level nature reserves, requiring all provinces to conduct a thorough survey and inventory of mining rights within their administrative regions’ protected areas, categorize and sort these rights systematically, and carry out a systematic analysis—all with the aim of laying a solid foundation for the classified management and disposal of mining rights in protected areas. The overall principles guiding the classified management and disposal of mining rights within protected areas are: prioritize the protection of the ecological environment and withdraw mining rights wherever feasible; protect legitimate rights and interests through categorized management and disposal; and promote the process in a coordinated and prudent manner.

　　In March 2017, the Ministry of Natural Resources, together with the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, the China Banking Regulatory Commission, and the China Securities Regulatory Commission, issued the "Implementation Opinions on Accelerating the Construction of Green Mines," setting forth clear requirements for strengthening ecological civilization in the mining sector and speeding up the transformation and green development of the mining industry. The "Implementation Opinions" provide a systematic framework for enhancing green mine construction and promoting the development of green mining. They propose establishing a green mine construction work system featuring joint creation at the national, provincial, municipal, and county levels; enterprise-led construction; third-party assessments; and social oversight. Moreover, the document introduces a new mechanism for advancing green mine construction—under which mines will engage in self-construction and self-assessment, undergo third-party evaluations, be included in a roster-based management system, meet specified standards to gain entry into the roster, and automatically enjoy relevant policies. In particular, the "Implementation Opinions" significantly strengthen policy support for the development of green mining from four key aspects: mineral use, land use, fiscal measures, and financial services. The document also clearly defines the green mine construction requirements for seven industries, including coal, petroleum, non-ferrous metals, gold, metallurgy, chemical industry, and non-metallic minerals.

　　Another prominent feature of green mining development in 2017 was the achievement of new breakthroughs in standard-setting.

　　On March 20, 2017, the Huzhou City Quality and Technical Supervision Bureau of Zhejiang Province issued and implemented the "Norms for Green Mine Construction in Huzhou City," marking the launch of China's first local standard for green mine construction.

　　Huzhou City is the nation’s first pilot demonstration zone for ecological civilization at the prefectural level. The “Norms for Green Mine Construction” issued by Huzhou City specifies the basic requirements for green mine construction, as well as requirements related to resources and the environment, enterprise management, certification, and supervision. According to this standard, in terms of resource utilization: the recovery rate of mineral resources in green mines must not be lower than the targets set forth in the mineral resource development and utilization plans; the comprehensive utilization rate must reach over 95%; and the disposal rate of solid waste must attain 100%. Mining areas shall be equipped with runoff interception and drainage systems, and surface runoff water, after sedimentation treatment, must meet discharge standards. Production wastewater shall be recycled to achieve zero discharge. Emissions of mine dust must comply with standards, with dust concentrations no higher than 1 milligram per cubic meter. The mining area, processing area, transportation system, office area, residential area, and wharf shall all be cleaned up, greened, and beautified, with a greening coverage rate exceeding 80% of the area that can be covered by greenery, and so forth.

　　In December 2017, China officially released its first national standard for green mine construction among social organizations—the “Guidelines for Green Mine Construction of Solid Mineral Resources (Trial).” This standard was jointly drafted by the China Mining Association and the China Institute of Land and Resource Economics. The standard specifies the basic requirements for green mine construction of solid mineral resources, covering all stages of the mining process—from the construction phase through the operational phase to the closure phase.

　　Establish a fund system for the governance and restoration of mine geological environments.

　　In 2017, efforts to strengthen the restoration and comprehensive management of mine geological environments will continue, with a clear system for establishing a fund for the governance and restoration of mine geological environments being put in place.

　　The geological environment of mining areas is an important component of the ecological environment. In recent years, in accordance with the directives issued by the Party Central Committee and the State Council, the Ministry of Natural Resources, together with relevant departments, has successively implemented a series of measures aimed at establishing sound institutional frameworks and promoting specialized governance efforts. In 2016, the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, and the National Energy Administration jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Strengthening the Restoration and Comprehensive Governance of Geological Environments in Mining Areas," which, guided by the new concept of stringent access management for mining development and enhanced source protection, proposed several innovative measures for environmental protection and restoration in mining areas. These include fully implementing the “three simultaneous” system—simultaneous preparation, review, and implementation of mineral resource development and utilization plans, geological environmental protection and restoration plans, and land reclamation plans—as well as clearly defining new policies for the reclamation and utilization of historically abandoned industrial and mining sites and for attracting social capital to carry out the restoration and governance of mining geological environments. The guidelines also encourage localities to explore new approaches such as the PPP model and third-party governance, and propose establishing a new mechanism for mining geological environment governance characterized by "government leadership, policy support, social participation, development as part of governance, and market-oriented operations." In 2017, China continued to strengthen the protection of mining geological environments and promoted the full implementation of the five-department "Guiding Opinions."

　　A major institutional reform in the field of mine geological environment governance and restoration in 2017 was the abolition of the deposit system and the shift toward raising funds for governance and restoration through a fund mechanism. To this end, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Natural Resources, and the Ministry of Environmental Protection jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Abolishing the Mine Geological Environment Governance and Restoration Deposit System and Establishing a Mine Geological Environment Governance and Restoration Fund."

　　The “Opinions” clearly state that the deposit guarantee system will be abolished. Mining enterprises will no longer establish new dedicated deposit accounts or make deposit guarantees. Existing dedicated deposit accounts will be canceled in accordance with established procedures. For deposits whose funds belong to the enterprise but require approval from relevant departments such as the Department of Natural Resources and the Ministry of Finance before being used, and which are held in special bank accounts, the linkage between fund withdrawal and the approval process for their use should be lifted. As for deposits remitted to special fiscal accounts and approved for use upon application by the enterprise after review by relevant departments including the Department of Natural Resources and the Ministry of Finance, the enterprise shall be refunded an amount equal to the difference between the actual funds it has paid and the expenditures already incurred for addressing geological environmental issues caused by mining activities at that enterprise. For enterprises whose responsible parties have ceased to exist, the deposit guarantees will not be refunded; instead, the government will earmark these funds specifically for the restoration and remediation of mining-induced geological environmental problems. Enterprises shall transfer any refunded deposit guarantees into a fund specifically designated for addressing geological environmental issues already caused by mining activities.

　　The “Opinions” propose raising funds for remediation and restoration through the establishment of a fund. Mining enterprises shall estimate decommissioning costs in accordance with relevant accounting standards and include these costs as part of the initial cost of related assets. Over the estimated mining life, such costs shall be amortized using methods such as the production-volume ratio and included in production costs. At the same time, mining enterprises are required to set up a dedicated fund account in their bank accounts to separately record the withdrawal and utilization of the fund. The fund will be used autonomously by the enterprises and earmarked exclusively for preventing and remediating ground subsidence, ground fissures, collapses, landslides, and damage to landforms and landscapes caused by mineral exploration and mining activities; for protecting and restoring underground aquifers; for safeguarding and rehabilitating surface vegetation; and for monitoring the geological environment of mining areas.

　　In summary, looking back at mineral resource management in 2017, we can see that mineral resource management officials and other stakeholders have made new explorations and achieved new accomplishments in areas such as institutional development, adopting a spirit of reform and innovation.

　　Link One

　　On December 30, 2016, the 31st meeting of the Central Leading Group for Comprehensively Deepening Reform reviewed and approved the “Reform Plan for the Transfer of Mineral Rights.” The plan proposes that, in line with the requirements of a market-oriented economy and the principles governing the mining industry, while ensuring the security of mineral resources and promoting green, healthy, and sustainable development of the mining sector, we should adopt a problem-oriented approach and take market-based transfer as the main thread to reform and improve the system for the transfer of mineral rights.

　　On November 1, 2006, the 29th meeting of the Central Leading Group for Comprehensively Deepening Reform reviewed and approved the “Measures for the Unified Registration of Property Rights over Natural Resources (Trial Implementation).” The meeting pointed out that it is essential to adhere to the principles of public ownership of resources, statutory property rights, and unified registration of property rights. It called for the unified registration of property rights over natural resources—including water flows, forests, mountains, grasslands, wastelands, tidal flats, and mineral resources with proven reserves—so as to establish a property rights system for natural resource assets that features clear ownership, well-defined rights and responsibilities, and effective oversight.

　　In 2015, the Party Central Committee and the State Council issued the "Opinions on Accelerating the Promotion of Ecological Civilization Construction" and the "Overall Plan for Reform of the Ecological Civilization System," explicitly stating: the establishment of an information disclosure system for efficient and comprehensive utilization by mining enterprises, as well as a blacklist system for mining right holders.

　　Link Two

　　In March 2017, the Ministry of Natural Resources and five other departments issued the "Implementation Opinions on Accelerating the Construction of Green Mines," proposing four policy support measures:

　　Implement policies to support mineral resources. In accordance with the law, prioritize support for the development of green mines and demonstration zones for green mining through measures such as regulating total extraction quotas, allocating and transferring mining rights, and other relevant mechanisms.

　　Ensure the provision of land for green mine construction. First, ensure planning and programmatic support: During the adjustment and improvement of overall land-use plans, localities should incorporate land required for green mine construction into their overall planning arrangements and give priority in annual land-use plans to meeting the reasonable new land demands for the construction of new, renovated, or expanded green mines. Second, reduce land-use costs: For mining land, after legally completing the procedures for obtaining construction land use rights, land can be transferred or leased through agreements, or leased first and then transferred. Based on the mine’s production cycle and mining lifespan, the term of land-use rights can be flexibly chosen within the statutory maximum lease term, allowing for flexible land-use right transfers. Third, support green mine enterprises in promptly reclaiming and revitalizing existing industrial and mining lands, linking such efforts with the allocation of newly available construction land. The development of green mining demonstration zones should be integrated with the reclamation and utilization of abandoned industrial and mining sites, the restoration of mine geological environments, the remediation of soil contamination in mining areas, and land consolidation efforts, applying relevant pilot programs and supportive policies. Provided that the plans and ecological requirements are met, reclaimed historically abandoned industrial and mining lands that have been converted into arable land may be used to offset the balance of arable land occupation. Fourth, for land damaged by lawful mining activities and deemed irrecoverable, after on-site investigation and specialized review as per relevant regulations, such land shall be included in the annual change survey. If the land involved is arable land, the actual amount of arable land held shall be reduced accordingly, but this reduction must not exceed the control limits set by each locality; if the land involved is basic farmland, equivalent replacement farmland must be designated.

　　Increase support through fiscal and tax policies. When allocating funds for geological and mineral exploration and evaluation, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Natural Resources will give preferential treatment to projects within green mining development demonstration zones that meet the relevant criteria. While making good use of central funds, local authorities may also coordinate and allocate funds for geological and mineral exploration, ecological restoration of mining areas, prevention and control of heavy-metal pollution, and land reclamation, giving priority to projects within green mining development demonstration zones that meet the eligibility requirements. Actively coordinate local fiscal funds and establish a reward system to recognize and reward outstanding green mining enterprises.

　　Innovate green finance support policies. For example, encourage banking and financial institutions to develop specialized green mining credit products and increase financial support for areas such as environmental restoration and remediation, prevention and control of heavy-metal pollution, and resource recycling. Also, encourage provincial governments to establish a database of green mining projects and strengthen support for green credit, and so forth.