On April 29, Xiong Zili, Director of the Geological Exploration Management Department of the Ministry of Natural Resources, introduced at a regular press conference that China has successfully completed the goals and tasks of the 14th Five-Year Plan's mineral exploration breakthrough action. The 15th Five-Year Plan period is a crucial five years for China's comprehensive construction of a modern socialist country and an important period for the high-quality development of geological survey. China will focus on three key tasks: "increasing reserves and production, empowering with science and technology, and green transformation," and will prioritize the following work:
First, continue to increase investment in mineral exploration and consolidate the momentum of increasing reserves and production. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the country will continue to implement a new round of strategic action for mineral exploration breakthroughs. The Ministry of Natural Resources will further improve the overall coordination system for the exploration, production, supply, reserve, and sales of strategic mineral resources, and strengthen the monitoring and early warning of strategic mineral resource security risks. In key areas, the focus will be on scarce strategic minerals such as copper, iron, lithium, cobalt, and nickel, while consolidating the resource position of advantageous minerals such as rare earth, tungsten, and tin. Spatially, the integration of land and sea will be strengthened, actively expanding the space for investigation, exploration, and development, and intensifying basic geological surveys. The goal is to submit a number of exploitable mineral deposits by 2030 and quickly generate new production capacity.
Second, the core leading role of technological innovation will be strengthened to promote a systemic transformation of mineral exploration models. Significant breakthroughs in the new round of mineral exploration hinge on technological innovation. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, China will focus on promoting a comprehensive leap from traditional models to a new model led by science and technology and empowered by data. First, the research on metallogenic theories will be deepened, metallogenic models of important metallogenic belts will be improved, and the theoretical foundation of mineral exploration will be solidified. Second, technological and equipment innovation will be promoted, and continuous efforts will be made in deep-earth and deep-sea technological research to overcome "bottleneck" technologies such as complex geological drilling and comprehensive utilization of difficult-to-process resources, thereby improving deep-sea mineral exploration capabilities and the level of comprehensive resource utilization. Third, accelerate digital transformation, relying on artificial intelligence and big data to build intelligent mineral exploration models, and deeply integrate multi-source data such as geology, geophysical exploration, geochemical exploration, and remote sensing, turning massive geological data into "new minerals" for breakthroughs in mineral exploration. Fourth, strengthen collaborative innovation, promote the deep integration of industry, academia, research, and application, and increase efforts in cultivating young talent to provide solid talent support for the mineral exploration industry.
Third, adhere to a balance between incentives and constraints to promote high-quality development of the industry. Breakthroughs in mineral exploration require both stimulating vitality and upholding bottom lines. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, the Ministry of Natural Resources will focus on both policy incentives to "activate" the market and green transformation to "green" development. A more mature and stable mining governance system will provide a solid institutional guarantee for the steady and long-term implementation of the strategic action for breakthroughs in mineral exploration.
Regarding policy incentives, continue to deepen the reform of mineral resource management and stimulate the vitality of various market entities. First, improve the incentive mechanism for mineral exploration, explore and improve reward policies for mineral exploration achievements, and encourage mining enterprises to conduct "mineral exploration in the local area." Second, optimize the methods of transferring mining rights, promote "clean mine" transfers, attract social capital to participate in mineral exploration, and guide pilot provinces to continue exploring pilot projects for social capital participation in strategic mineral surveys, so that more capable entities are willing to explore and invest. Third, explore the establishment of an exploration risk fund, through government-guided funds and social capital jointly establishing and sharing risks, to reduce the risks for social capital entering early-stage exploration, and encourage more exploration of prospective areas that are "unclear and uncertain." Fourth, revitalize existing resources, promote the transformation of a number of "dormant" or "dead" mines into mineable resources through technological innovation and policy support, and release dormant mineral value. Fifth, create a fair and transparent market environment, simplify administrative approval procedures, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of mining rights holders in accordance with the law, so that investors have more confidence and assurance in participating in mineral exploration.
Regarding ecological and environmental constraints, comprehensively promote green exploration and green mine construction, making green the distinctive feature of mining development. In the exploration stage, strictly implement green exploration standards, promote green technologies and equipment such as "multi-purpose boreholes," environmentally friendly drilling mud, and drone transportation, and minimize disturbance to the ecological environment. In the development phase, the construction of green mines will shift from demonstration and guidance to comprehensive promotion, with the goal of achieving green mine standards for 90% of licensed large mines and 80% of medium-sized mines by the end of 2028.
Fourth, accelerate industry transformation and upgrading to solidify the long-term foundation of mineral exploration. The sustainability of breakthroughs in mineral exploration ultimately depends on the overall progress of the industry. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, efforts will be focused on transforming the geological exploration industry from a traditional labor-intensive model to a technology-intensive and modern service-oriented one. First, promote the iterative upgrading of technology and equipment, increasing the application of modern equipment such as airborne geophysical exploration, satellite remote sensing, and UAV exploration, gradually making the days of geological team members "carrying equipment all over the mountains" a thing of the past. Second, deepen the industry's digital transformation, promoting the digital transformation of the entire geological exploration process, and building a unified national mineral exploration information service platform, allowing data to travel more and mineral exploration to be less arduous. Third, strengthen the training of compound talents, relying on major projects and key laboratories to cultivate a group of "new geologists" who understand geological theory and are proficient in AI big data artificial intelligence technology. Fourth, we will improve the working environment and industry ecosystem, continuously enhance the level of support for field operations, and improve the professional title evaluation and career development channels for technical personnel, making geological prospecting a respected and promising career. Through the overall progress of the industry, we will inject a continuous stream of endogenous momentum into a new round of mineral exploration breakthroughs.
During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, mineral exploration work will firmly establish the "bottom-line thinking of resource security, take technological innovation as the core driving force, and take green transformation as the fundamental orientation," continuously deepening the strategic action for mineral exploration breakthroughs and providing a solid resource guarantee for building a strong nation and achieving national rejuvenation.
