By the end of 2007, a dynamic resource supervision system is to
be established in mines throughout the country, the Ministry of
Land and Resources announced on Friday.
The move is of great significance to the country's effort to
build a "resource saving society" and prod domestic mining
enterprises to cherish and make logical use of natural resources,
said Guan Fengjun, director of the reserve management department of
the ministry.
All mining enterprises in the country are to complete their
annual reserve reports by the beginning of next year. These reports
are to include reserve-related information such as conservative and
accumulative reserve estimates, the volume of reserves exploited or
lost in a year, any quality change in ores and the planned
exploitation volume for the next year.
The reports are to be submitted to resources management
departments before the end of January 2007.
24 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities already use
this system, Guan said.
"The dynamic supervision system can help resource management
departments at various levels ascertain their own reserves, which
is a problem that has haunted mines in the country for
years," Guan said.
Mining enterprises that do not submit their annual reports will
not be allowed to operate the following year.
Mining enterprises can pick a local geology survey organization
to conduct a survey of their annual reserves, and carry out
inspections and random checks.
The ministry will be in charge of the supervision of oil and
natural gas in the future. The supervision of radioactive minerals
will be entrusted to China National Nuclear Corporation.
Provincial-level land and resources bureaus will be responsible
for supervision of other minerals.
In order to meet the increasing demand and possible supply
shortages in the future, China is developing its own strategic
reserve of important minerals, such as uranium, aluminum and
copper, the International Finance News quoted sources with the
Ministry of Land and Resources as saying.
(China Daily May 15, 2006)