The Ministry of Natural Resources said demand for China’s key mineral resources
will remain structurally firm during the 15th Five-Year Plan. To secure energy
supply and support advanced manufacturing, the ministry will launch a new
mineral-exploration breakthrough campaign and implement the national geological
mapping program to raise onshore 1:50,000 mapping coverage to 51% and mapping
coverage in major metallogenic belts to 66%. It will step up exploration and
extraction, organize a large-scale mineral-discovery drive focused on scarce
minerals — notably oil, iron, copper and aluminum, while also supporting rare
earths — deploy priority exploration and mining projects and steadily advance
construction of about 300 energy-resource bases. The ministry will push tech
innovation to deliver new supply breakthroughs and reactivate existing reserves,
and raise the “three rates” (mining recovery rate, ore-processing recovery rate
and overall resource-utilization rate).
