Since 1982 Since the original Ministry of Geology was renamed the Ministry of Geology and Mineral Resources, China has been endowed with mineral resource management functions. After years of reform, development, and practical experience, a preliminary framework for mineral resource management has taken shape. Significant efforts have been made in ensuring supply, protecting resources, safeguarding the environment, regulating the market, and restoring order. However, due to insufficient research on strategic issues related to mineral resources and theoretical issues in mineral resource management, as well as lagging policies and regulations and lax enforcement of standards, the foundation and basis of mineral resource management remain weak. As a result, for more than a decade, mineral resource management has consistently remained trapped in a cyclical pattern of remediation followed by further remediation, failing to move onto a path of sustained and stable governance. At present, as the country is making rapid strides in reform and development, the management system for mineral exploration and development still lags considerably behind the requirements of the nation’s economic and social development. Therefore, studying the theoretical, principled, and deep-seated issues underlying mineral resource management is essential for perfecting and improving this management system.

The strategies, policies, regulations, and standards for mineral resources can be referred to as the “Four Fundamental Texts” of mineral resource management. These texts serve as the basic foundation for mineral resource governance; they not only reflect the country’s overarching policies but also embody the universal principles underlying mineral resource management. Therefore, to improve mineral resource management, we must first start by refining these Four Fundamental Texts—namely, the strategy, policies, regulations, and standards for mineral resources. Only when these Four Fundamental Texts are correctly formulated and properly implemented can mineral resource management become smooth and effective, ultimately enabling us to enter a stage of long-term, institutionalized management.

1. Through strategic research on mineral resources, and based on the overall context of the nation’s economic and social development, we will define the direction, goals, and tasks for mineral resource management.

Developing a mineral resource strategy is the foundation for defining the direction, goals, and tasks of mineral resource management. The mineral resource strategy is formulated from the perspective of the nation’s overall economic and social development, and it must align with and serve the country’s development strategy. The fundamental purpose of mineral resource management is to ensure the successful implementation of the nation’s development strategy. Without in-depth research on the mineral resource strategy, it would be difficult to closely link mineral resource management with the broader context of the nation’s economic and social development. Currently, mineral resource management faces a series of significant challenges that require careful study, the formulation of strategic decisions, and integration into the management framework. For example, how the objectives and tasks of mineral resource management can be aligned with the realization of... 2020 How to align with the goal of achieving a moderately prosperous society in all respects, how to integrate with economic globalization, how to align with the implementation of a comprehensive market economy system, how to align with the pursuit of a sustainable development strategy, and how to align with the four major regional development strategies (the Eastern Coastal Open-up Strategy, the Western Development Strategy, the Central Region Rise Strategy, and the Revitalization Strategy for the Old Industrial Bases in Northeast China)—and so on. Researching and reflecting on these strategic issues will ensure that, when we conceive and design the objectives and management framework for mineral resource management, we always adopt a perspective that takes into account the overall and long-term interests of the nation’s economic and social development, thus remaining fully aligned with the country’s strategic orientations. At the same time, through strategic research on mineral resources, we can also achieve consensus on key issues in mineral resource governance, forge synergy among government departments and society at large, and maintain a relatively stable, long-term, and holistic approach to management.

II. Achieve macroeconomic regulation of mineral resource exploration and development activities through policy guidance.

Under the current circumstances, mineral resource exploration and development activities are highly subject to policy regulation. In recent years in China... 20 In recent years, mining activities have experienced several major ups and downs. Whether it’s a “major downturn” or a “major upswing,” neither is a normal phenomenon and both can harm the healthy development of the economy. 20 Century 90 In the mid-1990s, China's mining industry was in a downturn. Coal mines across the entire sector were suffering losses, a large number of workers lost their jobs and were laid off, and mining enterprises were facing severe difficulties. 2004 Since the beginning of this year, prices of mineral products—both domestically and internationally—have soared, prompting a surge in new mining projects. As a result, coal and iron ore production capacities have expanded rapidly. While this has helped to address the shortfall in mineral supply, it also harbors the risk of overcapacity, signaling the emergence of another round of sharp booms and busts. The imbalance between supply and demand for these mineral products calls for macroeconomic regulation. For the management of mineral resources, mineral resource planning stands out as the most crucial macroeconomic regulatory tool. Based on the needs of national economic and social development, conducting thorough mineral resource planning in terms of total volume, structural composition, and spatial distribution—and enhancing foresight to prepare proactively—is undoubtedly the best approach to macroeconomic regulation. By contrast, issuing “notices,” “opinions,” or “measures” only after imbalances have already emerged—attempting to mend the fence after the sheep are lost—represents a middle-of-the-road strategy. If mineral exploration and development fall into a state of severe overheating or undercooling, significantly disrupting the normal functioning of the national economic system, and if mineral resource administration proves insensitive and fails to take timely action in macroeconomic regulation, that would be the worst possible approach.
To effectively leverage the leading role of mineral resource planning in macroeconomic regulation, it is necessary to enhance the authority of planning management, deepen the scientific rigor of planning formulation, strengthen the targeted nature of planning content, and bolster the seriousness of planning implementation. Macro-regulation of mineral exploration and development also requires the concerted efforts of multiple government departments. However, as the agency responsible for resource management—and situated at the very source of mining activities—actively, promptly, and effectively employing policy tools to carry out macroeconomic regulation is a key responsibility of this agency.

III. Regulate the normal order of mineral resource exploration and development activities through legislation and law enforcement.

The conventional management of mineral resources is carried out through various regulations governing mineral resources. In our country... 1986 the first “Mineral Resources Law” of the year and 1996 The amendments made over the years have undoubtedly played a historic role. However, as the country continues to forge ahead with reform and development at a rapid pace, the current Mining Law has become increasingly ill-suited to the demands of the socialist market economy. The existing Mining Law has several shortcomings in areas such as enterprise ownership structures, classification and management of mineral types, fee systems, entry standards, and the relationship between public and private rights: some provisions are already outdated, some deviate from the country’s overall reform and development guidelines, some are vaguely defined, and some contain implicit contradictions among themselves. Under such a Mining Law, it is clearly extremely difficult to achieve stable, effective mineral resource management that aligns with the nation’s reform and development objectives. Many people have recognized the lagging nature of the Mining Law and the problems embedded within it; yet for years, efforts to revise the law have remained stuck in a state of indecision. Without a new Mining Law that is attuned to contemporary needs, legally sound, and comprehensively refined, no matter how many “opinions” or “measures” are issued on the basis of the current law, they will fail to bring about any fundamental improvement in the order of mineral resource management—and may even end up counterproductive, moving in the opposite direction instead.

Our country is in the process of establishing a socialist market economy. Whether the “Mineral Resources Law” is well-established is one of the indicators of whether we have achieved a legal environment characteristic of a fully market-oriented economy. Around the world, through the experiences of various countries... 200 After years of exploration and practice, mineral resource management and legislation have become a well-established field. Its basic principles and key components are clearly defined, and while there may be some differences among countries, there is much that can be learned from one another. If we were to say that in China, the planned economic system still holds strong... 1986 If, in the past, there were still many conceptual and institutional obstacles to the enactment of a mining law, today, as our country has fully entered the socialist market economic system and is actively promoting economic globalization, such obstacles should no longer exist. Therefore, amending the mining law is both urgent—indeed, the sooner the better—and must be guided by the central government’s overarching drive to fully advance the socialist market economic system and promote economic globalization, so as not to hold back the nation’s reform and development. Second, we must delve deeply into the theoretical and profound issues involved in amending the mining law, clearly defining the direction and principles for such amendments to ensure that the revised law does not become increasingly chaotic. Third, we must align with international standards, taking into account both China’s national conditions and the internationally accepted public rules governing mineral resource management, thereby removing regulatory barriers for Chinese mining enterprises in their global and regional competition and creating a favorable legal environment that facilitates the smooth entry of international mining capital into China.

The revision of the Mineral Resources Law, in addition to taking into account the broader context of the socialist market economy—a key environment for mining operations—must also be firmly grounded in the implementation and thorough贯彻 of the Scientific Outlook on Development. Environmental protection in mining areas and the social responsibility borne by mining enterprises are two practical issues that must be addressed in mineral resource management to put the Scientific Outlook on Development into practice. In developed countries, the legal frameworks governing these two issues are relatively well-established, and enterprises themselves tend to be proactive and conscientious in addressing them. Although China’s Mineral Resources Law includes provisions on mine environmental assessments and environmental protection, both the content and procedures are rather brief, and some enterprises show poor compliance. These aspects should be strengthened in the revision of the Mineral Resources Law. Taking on social responsibility is an important measure for establishing a harmonious relationship between mines and society, and Western mining companies place considerable emphasis on this aspect. Such efforts are primarily carried out voluntarily by enterprises through industry self-regulation; however, the Mineral Resources Law should include principled provisions and guiding guidelines to support this work.

For many years, China has focused its attention on rectifying the mining order in the management of mineral resources. At the current stage in China, due to such factors as incomplete regulations, low quality of enterprises and individuals, and ambiguous distribution of interests, illegal and non-compliant mining activities have become a serious problem. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out campaigns aimed at putting the mining order right. However, such campaigns can only provide temporary relief—they cannot address the root causes of the problem. They may temporarily suppress certain issues, but these problems are not fundamentally resolved and will inevitably resurface sooner or later. A notice is issued, and the mining order is vigorously整顿 once again; a batch of mines is shut down, sealed, and demolished, bringing mining activities into a brief period of calm. Yet as soon as the spotlight fades, the old problems reappear, prompting yet another notice and another round of closures and demolitions... This cycle continues endlessly, leaving the government exhausted from constant efforts to restore order, while the mining sector remains in utter chaos. In short, this approach is not a fundamental solution—and nowhere else in the world has such a method been adopted either. Thus, the focus of mineral resource management should be fully shifted onto perfecting legislation and strictly enforcing the law, with the goal of establishing a long-term, stable, and sustainable mineral resource management system. Of course, under specific circumstances, rectifying the mining order may still be an unavoidable measure.

4. Implement monitoring of the quantity and quality of mineral exploration products through technical standards.

Under market economic conditions, the products of mineral exploration are mineral resource quantities and reserves. Mineral resource quantities and reserves are defined by technical standards; without such technical standards, there would be no resource quantities or reserves, or the resource quantities and reserves being discussed would lack both economic and managerial significance. Mineral resource reserves are categorized into many types (in China, they are classified as...). 16 types), each of which is specific and distinct in terms of ore quality, reliability, utilization conditions, and application scope. It is not permissible to... 333 The resource amount is intended for feasibility studies and cannot be used for bank loans; only... 111 Reserves can serve as collateral assets for bank loans. When assessing their value, it is also important to consider the type of resource reserves: some reserve types carry low risk and thus should be assigned a higher value, while others involve high risks and therefore require a lower valuation. When collecting resource compensation fees based on resource quantities and reserves, determining which type of resource reserve to use as the basis for assessment is a question that calls for rigorous scientific analysis. According to the current classification standards for mineral resource reserves (which are based on the United Nations standards), ,333 The error in resource estimates is on the order of magnitude; charging based on these resource estimate figures could therefore result in overcharging. 10 Overcharged or undercharged 10 multiplied by a factor. Therefore, making general statements about the amount of resource reserves is not only meaningless in the operation of the mining rights market but also lacks significance in mineral resource management. This means that mining rights holders, investors, and mineral resource managers all need to be familiar with the technical and economic implications of different types of resource reserves. To achieve this, it is essential to be well-versed in both the standards for mineral resource reserves and the standards for exploration.

China has always attached great importance to the development of standards for mineral resource reserves, and under the planned economy system, it has completed the drafting of dozens of relevant regulations. It is precisely these regulations that have ensured China’s... 100 The reserves of various mineral resources are rigorously controlled in terms of both the volume and quality of exploration work. Since the reform and opening-up, China promptly issued a new classification of mineral resource reserves tailored to the conditions of the market economy. Subsequently, dozens of exploration standards were released, providing the technical foundation for shifting China’s mineral exploration from a planned economic system to a market-oriented one. However, given that this transition occurred during a transitional period between the planned economy and the market economy, the new standards still bore the lingering influence of the planned economy and, in retrospect, no longer meet the demands of the current situation. More importantly, 1999 The annual standards have not been demonstrated, implemented, or widely promoted. As a result, it remains unclear how the new classification system should be specifically applied in particular mining areas and on maps. Without field studies and exchanges, it’s impossible to reach a consensus on the implementation of these new standards. In other words, merely having the standards on paper is not enough; we still lack authoritative, practical guidelines for their application. Precisely because there is a shortage of benchmark mining area cases that can serve as references, experts so far have had no choice but to rely on their own interpretations when determining resource-reserve classifications. Consequently, discrepancies among various reports regarding resource-reserve types are inevitable.

In recent years, the entities undertaking mineral exploration projects have shown a growing indifference to compliance with standards, and quality awareness has slackened at every stage of the exploration process, resulting in worrisome report quality. During the planned economy era, China had a highly sophisticated technical management system for mineral exploration projects: at the Ministry of Geology and Mineral Resources level, the Planning Department was responsible for planning, the Department of Geology and Mineral Resources oversaw implementation, the Reserve Committee ensured quality, and the Data Bureau managed data; at the provincial team level, sub-team technical leaders, brigade technical leaders, and the chief engineer of the provincial bureau exercised layered oversight. Under such a rigorous technical management system, major quality problems in mineral exploration were virtually impossible in the past. Since entering the new era—especially after geological exploration units became locally based—the administrative subordination between exploration units and project management units has been severed, leading to the disintegration of the previous technical management system. Yet no effective new system has emerged to replace it and adequately monitor the quality of mineral exploration (including commercial mineral exploration). Consequently, it is inevitable that enforcement of standards has become lax and report quality has declined.

In mineral exploration, the lack of standardized concepts and the loosening of quality supervision mechanisms still provide opportunities for fraud and falsification, leading to integrity, ethical, and legal crises in exploration results. We will all never forget. 1997 The incident that occurred at the Busang gold mine in Indonesia BreX Corporate scandal, due to corporate fraud, 6000 tonnes of gold ore reserves, 60 The market capitalization of hundreds of millions of Canadian dollars instantly vanished into thin air. The current situation in our country regarding the falsification of mineral resource reserves is also cause for concern. Reports of falsely reported drill holes, manipulated grade data, and the preparation of fake resource reserve reports for commercial exploration and development projects are all too common. The most recent example occurred in 2007 In July and August of that year, a major scandal broke out involving the falsification of drilling data by Southwest Resources, a company listed in Toronto, Canada. The company was jointly exploring the Boka gold mine in Dongchuan, Yunnan Province, China, through a joint venture. 2005 Last year, an assessment report claimed that the gold mine reserves reached 150 tons. Subsequently, continuous positive news about mineralized drill holes and rising grades spurred a sharp rally in Southwest Company’s stock. 2007 Year 6 In the month, doubts began to arise when the company’s CEO, Paterson, resigned “for personal reasons.” Following an internal review by Southwest Resources, it was determined that there were problems with the data, and the company announced the “revocation of all previously published results from the Boka Project.” According to foreign reports, Paterson is suspected of fraud and falsification; he allegedly used computer techniques to systematically inflate the gold grades in rock samples. Paterson has now been sued by Southwest Resources in Canada, and a general manager surnamed Zhang has been dismissed. A consulting report suggests that the Boka gold mine may still have more potential. 10 One 13 tonnes of gold reserves, but a formal audit is required. 8 It will take months to sort this out, and only then will we have a definitive answer as to just how much gold Boca actually holds. The incident occurred in China, and while the primary responsibility lies with the foreign party, the warning this incident gives us is profound. Western countries have stringent regulatory standards for technical reports on resource reserve calculations (as outlined in Canada’s national documents). 43 One 101) With a stringent system for accrediting qualified practitioners (qualified personnel) and a rigorous information-disclosure regime, and despite considerable regulatory oversight, such large-scale fraud still occurs. Given that China’s current standards for mineral exploration are incomplete and enforcement is lax, it’s easy to imagine just how significant the hidden risks to the quality of mineral exploration really are.

Establishing standards for mineral exploration and conducting market oversight over the quantity and quality of mineral exploration products (such as resource estimates and reserves) are among the most easily overlooked aspects of mineral resource management. Yet, precisely these are the most fundamental tasks. Without standards, how could we even talk about resource estimates or reserves? And without resource estimates and reserves, how can we possibly discuss resource management? These two questions surely make it clear just how closely standards are linked to mineral resource management.