According to the document, the country unearthed 157 new mineral varieties by the end of last year. The new findings have boosted the estimated reserves of China's major minerals.

For example, the estimated reserve of coal is 760 million tons, while oil, natural gas and iron are respectively 1.1 billion tons, 441.1 billion tons and 102 million tons.

The new supplies will greatly fuel the country's future economic growth, said Pan Wencan, director of the Planning Department of the Ministry of Land and Resources.

The output value of the country's mining industry continued to increase in 2002 and is expected to reach 508.5 billion yuan (US$61.4 billion) when figures for the entire nation are tallied.

Meanwhile, China's domestic production of minerals increased. The output of crude oil increased to 167 million tons in 2002 from the previous year's 165 million tons, while figures for 10 major nonferrous metals increased to 10.21 million tons from 8.83 million tons.

However, Pan admitted China's mineral resources still cannot completely meet the demands of the country's fast economic development.

According to the paper, 30 of the country's 45 major mineral resources experienced reductions in reserve levels. A report from the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences indicates the 30 minerals include iron, aluminium ore, manganese and sylvite.

"The country's trade deficit in minerals worsened last year," said Pan.

He said apart from copper, the import volumes of other minerals all increased in 2002. While the imported crude oil reached 69.41 million tons last year, imported iron ores amounted to 112 million tons.

Pan believed last year's decrease in the import volume of copper was largely due to the discovery of a rich copper mine in the eastern Tianshan Mountains in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, which is the largest in China and estimated to have nearly 10 million tons of high-quality copper. "In addition, more aluminous alloy and stainless steel have been used instead of copper," he said.

As one of the biggest copper importers in the world, China imported about half of its copper in 2001, related statistics indicate. Imports decreased by 8.4 per cent last year.

The report also published some other important facts regarding the country's land use changes, the development situation of marine industries, the accomplishment of national geological surveys, and the progress of the prevention and treatment of such geological disasters as mudslides.

(China Daily April 5, 2003)