Sun Fengyue： Suggestions on further improving China’s mineral resources support capacity to support high-quality development.
On further improving China’s mineral resources guarantee abilitySuggestions on supporting high-quality development
Sun Fengyue
【Jilin NLD WeChat WeChat official accountMineral resources are an important material basis for human survival and an important guarantee for national resource and energy security and economic and social development. Since the founding of New China, the CPC Central Committee has attached great importance to the exploration, development and utilization of mineral resources. Several generations of leaders have written inscriptions and given important instructions on mining development, which greatly promoted the healthy development of China’s mining industry and made outstanding contributions to the country’s economic and social construction. In 2006, the State Council promulgated the "Decision on Strengthening Geological Work" (Guo Fa 2006 (No.4)). In 2011, the General Office of the State Council forwarded the "Strategic Action Plan for Prospecting Breakthrough (2011-2020)" (Guo Ban Fa 2011 (No.57)) to four ministries and commissions, including the Ministry of Land and Resources, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Finance. Major breakthroughs and achievements have been made in the exploration of important minerals, green exploration and the improvement of scientific and technological innovation ability in the field of geology and minerals, which has made important contributions to China’s economic and social construction. However, due to China’s huge population base, the per capita possession of important mineral resources in China is still significantly lower than the world average. The rapid development of China’s industrialization and urbanization, especially China’s industrial production ranked first in the world for 11 consecutive years, the demand for important mineral resources showed an obvious rigid upward trend, the domestic supply guarantee capacity was insufficient, and the dependence on foreign countries continued to rise. The dependence on foreign countries of more than 10 important minerals exceeded 50%. At present, the guarantee of mineral resources is still a major strategic issue facing China’s high-quality development in the new period.Under the guidance of the development concept of innovation, coordination, green, openness and sharing, the implementation of the "Tenth Five-Year Plan" and high-quality development put forward new and higher requirements for the improvement of China’s mineral resources security capacity. In order to further ensure China’s resource and energy security and promote sustainable and healthy economic and social development, the following specific suggestions are put forward:
1. Vigorously carry out green exploration, deep exploration and sea resource exploration of mineral resources.
The scientific assertion of "Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" put forward by the Supreme Leader General Secretary has led China into a new era of green development. In order to solve the resource bottleneck and environmental problems in mineral exploration, green exploration has become an important path for mining development. At present, it is urgent to speed up the formulation of industry and national standards for green exploration on the basis of the group standard of Green Exploration Guide issued by China Mining Association in 2018, so as to guide and standardize mineral exploration, development and utilization activities in China under the new situation.
Deep mineral resources have great potential. Increasing the depth of exploration and carrying out deep exploration, especially in some old mines, can obtain new important resources without expanding the scope of surface influence, so as to solve the resource bottleneck problem and effectively alleviate the ecological environment pressure brought by related activities.
With the implementation of the national marine strategy, in order to continuously expand the development space of marine economy, the exploration and evaluation of mineral resources in the sea area is becoming more and more important, and should be planned as soon as possible. We must adhere to the idea of seeking development with green and constantly seeking resources from deep and sea areas.
2. Make good use of two resources and two markets in the field of mineral resources.
In his speech at the opening ceremony of the China International Mining Conference in Tianjin in 2010, Premier Li Keqiang pointed out that we should make full use of both domestic and foreign markets and resources, and constantly enhance the energy resources guarantee capacity for economic and social development.
In the face of economic globalization, adhering to China’s opening-up strategy, making full use of the implementation of the "Belt and Road" strategy, relying on foreign resources and foreign markets, and actively carrying out international cooperation are still important ways for China to effectively enhance its resource support capacity and increase its mineral resources reserves, and will remain a strategy that we should adhere to for a long time.
In view of the complicated and changeable international environment, it is also of great practical significance to further find out the property of China’s mineral resources and improve the guarantee ability based on the domestic situation. Mineral resources have the basic and leading characteristics in national development, so it is necessary for us to take precautions and make plans early in the construction of mineral resources security system. The metallogenic conditions in China are good, and many minerals still have great prospecting prospects, especially in the deeper exploration depth than before. It is suggested that, on the basis of the successful implementation of the last round of strategic action for prospecting breakthrough, based on the new situation, new characteristics, new goals and new tasks, and guided by the new development concept, a new round of strategic action plan for prospecting breakthrough in China should be planned and implemented as soon as possible.
3. Continue to advocate resource conservation and efficient use of resources.
In essence, green development requires a sustainable development path of resource saving and environmental friendliness. As a non-renewable resource, advocating resource conservation and efficient utilization of mineral resources is an important measure to enhance China’s mineral resources support capacity and improve the ecological environment. During the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan period, the state strongly emphasized the strengthening of pollution prevention and control, and comprehensively improved the efficiency of resource and energy utilization. In 2016, the former Ministry of Land and Resources issued the Opinions on Promoting the Comprehensive Conservation and Efficient Utilization of Domestic Resources, which played a positive role in promoting the conservation and efficient utilization of mineral resources. It is suggested that relevant policies and regulations should be further promulgated and improved in the future, which will play an important role in improving China’s mineral resources support capacity and achieving high-quality development during the 14 th Five-Year Plan period.
4. Make overall planning and focus on building several important mineral resources connecting bases in the country.
According to the characteristics of resource endowment, combined with physical geography and economic and social conditions, guided by the concept of green development, we will make overall plans, build several national-level important mineral resources connecting bases in batches in a planned, focused way, and promote China’s regional economic development while improving the national mineral resources guarantee capacity.
For example, Jilin oil shale-oil sand-shale oil can be used as a connecting base of China’s energy resources. Jilin Province is blessed with oil shale, shale oil and oil sand resources. The latest evaluation shows that the oil shale resources are 247.8 billion tons, ranking first in the country. During the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" period, relevant departments have achieved breakthroughs in shale gas and shale oil. The shale oil geological resources of Qingshankou Formation in Songliao Basin can reach 7.5 billion tons, and the shale gas geological resources of Shahezi Formation in Lishu fault depression exceed 500 billion cubic meters. Turn resource advantages into development advantages, develop new formats, and vigorously promote the implementation of the revitalization strategy of the old industrial base in Northeast China.
5. Deepen the reform and improve the enthusiasm of all kinds of capital to invest in the mining field.
Further innovate the system and mechanism, improve policies and regulations, give full play to the enthusiasm of the central, local and enterprises, and better attract and encourage social capital to invest in mineral resources exploration and development.
6. Further strengthen scientific and technological innovation and build a new industry talent team.