According to the Department of Land and Resources of Yunnan, Yunnan has made great achievements since implementation of the geological prospecting action plan. 5 ultra-large deposits and several large deposits have been found, and a group of key areas with favorable ore-forming prospect have been pinpointed.

Located at the joint of Eurasia plate and Indian plate as well as the joint of famous "Sanjiang"ore-forming belt, Yangtze ore-forming area and Hua’nan ore-forming area, Yunnan boasts excellent ore-forming conditions. At the end of 2009, Yunnan launched the “3-year Geological Prospecting Action Plan”, striving to discover and prove a group of large and medium-sized ore fields that can be developed in approximately 3 years, and significantly increase reserves of key mineral resources of the province.

According to Li Lianju, Vice Director of the Land and Resources Department of Yunnan, at present, ultra-large copper mines of Shangri-La County have 8,000,000 tons of proven copper resource and 10,000,000 tons of estimated copper resource; ultra-large tungsten mines of Malipo County have over 300,000 tons of proven tungsten resource and 700,000 tons of estimated tungsten resource; ultra-large leadzinc mines of Zhenkang County have 1,500,000 tons of lead and zinc and over 3,000,000 tons of lead and zinc; ultra-large gold mines of Heqing County have 150 tons of proven gold resource and 300 tons of estimated gold resource, with large quantities of metals such as iron, silver and copper, etc., the whole mine area boasting a great ore-prospecting potential. In addition, large deposit evaluation and exploration efforts in Heqing County and Baoshan City have achieved remarkable results.