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National Geological Exploration Investment Reduced by Nearly 1/3

On May 16, the Ministry of land and Resources issued the 2016 National Geological Exploration Report and the published results showed that in 2016, China's investment in geological exploration continued to decline and was reduced by nearly 1/3.

In 2016, China's investment in geological exploration continued to decline and this downward trend began from 2012. In 2016, national geological exploration investment was 24.729 billion yuan, down by 24.6% year-on-year.

Sources of funds: 6.320 billion yuan from central finance, accounting for 25.6% of the total, down by 10.6% year-on-year; 8.182 billion yuan from local finance, accounting for 33.1% of the total, down by 14.1% year-on-year; 10.227 billion yuan of social capital, accounting for 41.3% of the total, down by 36.8% year-on-year.

Focuses of investment: 16.984 billion yuan for mineral exploration, accounting for 68.7% of the total, down by 29.3% year-on-year; 3.489 billion yuan for basic geological survey, accounting for 14.1% of the total, down by 13.7% year-on-year; Top 5 provinces by investment amount: Xinjiang (5.680 billion yuan), Inner Mongolia (2.699 billion yuan), Yunnan (1.030 billion yuan), Gansu (1.014 billion yuan), Sichuan (945 million yuan).

In 2016, mineral exploration investment was 16.984 billion yuan, down by 29.3% year-on-year.

Sources of funds: 2.207 billion yuan from central finance, accounting for 13.0% of the total, down by 20.5% year-on-year; 5.293 billion yuan from local finance, accounting for 31.2% of the total, down by 12.2% year-on-year; 9.484 billion yuan of social capital, accounting for 55.8% of the total, down by 37.7% year-on-year.

Focuses of investment: mainly gold (3.355 billion yuan), copper (3.129 billion yuan), lead and zinc (1.748 billion yuan), coal (1.747 billion yuan), and iron (1.028 billion yuan), accounting for 64.8% of the total investment. Compared with 2015, investment in molybdenum, tungsten, phosphorus, coal, iron, nickel and copper was reduced dramatically, investment in bauxite was increased significantly, and investment in strategic emerging minerals such as rare, rare earth, scattered elements, graphite and diamond was substantially increased by 71.4%.

Top 5 provinces by investment amount: Xinjiang 4.862 billion yuan), Inner Mongolia (2.203 billion yuan), Yunnan (728 million yuan), Gansu (717 million yuan), Shaanxi (657 million yuan).

Until the end of 2016, the country's non-oil and gas exploration rights within the validity period totaled 25,569, down by 10.0% from the end of 2015, and the registered exploration area was 458,800 square kilometers, down by 16.5% from the end of 2015.

Regional distribution: mainly distributed in the western region. Top 5 provinces by the number of exploration rights: Xinjiang (4,335), Inner Mongolia (3,471), Yunnan (2,026), Jiangxi (1,852) and Sichuan (1,567), accounting for 51.9% of the country's total exploration rights.

Types of minerals: mainly concentrated in 34 important mineral types, with a total of 21,607 exploration rights, accounting for 84.5% of the total. Top 5 mineral types by the number of exploration rights: gold ores (5,962), copper ores (4,984), lead and zinc ores (3,031), iron ores (2,425) and coal ores (1,508), accounting for 70.1% of the country's total mineral exploration rights.

Categories of minerals: mainly metal ores. 10,618 nonferrous metal exploration rights, accounting for 41.6% of the country's total; 6,628 precious metal exploration rights, accounting for 26.0% of the country's total; 3,107 ferrous metal exploration rights, accounting for 12.2% of the country's total; 2,268 energy mineral exploration rights, accounting for 8.9% of the country's total; 2,735 non-metallic mineral exploration rights, accounting for 10.7% of the country's total.

140 new mines have been discovered across the country, including 41 large mines, 41 medium mines and 58 small mines. Top 5 mineral types by the number of new mines discovered: gold (12), lead and zinc (11), coal (10), iron (8), and copper (7).

Phased exploration of 496 mines across the country has completed, including preliminary survey of 43 mines, general survey of 157 mines, detailed survey of 205 mines and exploration of 91 mines. Top 5 mineral types by the number of mines whose phased exploration has completed: coal (71), gold (67), lead and zinc (56), copper (29) and iron (25).

Increased resources by mineral type: 20.4 billion tons of coal, 323 million tons of iron ores, 475,600 tons of copper, 28 million tons of manganese ores, 265 million tons of bauxite, 1.9033 million tons of lead and zinc, 107,900 tons of tungsten (WO3), 61,700 tons of molybdenum, 235 tons of gold, 2,430 tons of silver, 545 million tons of phosphate ores and 29.026 million tons of graphite.

Copper mine: 7 (1 medium and 6 small) new mines are discovered. Phased exploration of 29 mines has been completed. An additional 550,000 tons of copper has been discovered in the Wushan Mine in Ruichang City, Jiangxi.

Lead and zinc mine: 11 (2 large, 1 medium and 8 small) new mines are discovered. Phased exploration of 56 mines has been completed. An additional 468,100 tons of lead and an additional 719,200 tons of zinc have been discovered in the Qixiashan Lead-Zinc Mine, Qixia District, Nanjing City, Jiangsu. An additional 515,000 tons of zinc and an additional 58,900 tons of lead have been discovered in the Nongtun Lead-Zinc Mine, Daxin County, Guangxi. An addition 420,000 tons of lead and zinc have been discovered in the Duocaima Lead-Zinc Mine, Anduo County, Naqu, Tibet.

Bauxite mine: 2 (1 large, 1 medium) new mines are discovered. Phased exploration of 13 mines has been completed. An additional 82.85 million tons of bauxite has been discovered in the Jiwanggou Mine and an additional 11.11 million tons of bauxite has been discovered in the Qiuyan Mine, Fenxi County, Shanxi.

Tungsten mine: 2 (1 large, 1 medium) new mines are discovered. Phased exploration of 12 mines has been completed. An additional 578,500 tons of tungsten (WO3) has been discovered in Boshuwu, Fuliang County-Leping City, Jiangxi and an additional 120,000 tons of tungsten (WO3) has been discovered in the Juyuan Tungsten Mine, Chongren County, Jiangxi.

Tin mine: 2 (both small) new mines are discovered. Phased exploration of 7 mines has been completed. An additional 60,000 tons of tin has been discovered through superseding resources exploration in the Xianghualing Tin Mine, Linwu County, Hunan.