New policies to foster private exploration investment in China - official
Shanghai. February 23. INTERFAX-CHINA - China will introduce policies this year aimed at increasing the role of private investment in mineral exploration, an official with the Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR) told press in Beijing Thursday.
The ministry is currently working on policies to increase and diversify investment in the sector, as well as encourage cooperation between private and state-owned enterprises (SOE), said Xu Dachun, deputy head of MLR's mineral resources department.
The announcement comes after the State Council in May 2010 issued guidelines intended to promote the role of private enterprises in various industries and put them on a more equal footing with their state-owned peers in bidding for mining and exploration rights.
SOEs and government agencies accounted for a little more than 10 percent of China's total exploration investment last year, which amounted to RMB 120 billion ($19.06 billion), according to MLR.
The prominent role hitherto played by the state in exploiting China's resources has curbed investment inflows and limited mining capacity, increasing the country's reliance on overseas suppliers to feed its burgeoning economy, said Shanghai Metal Market (SMM) analyst Liu Xiaolei.
In another development, MLR revealed statistics for last year's new-found mineral deposits at the meeting and said it aims to improve the availability of reserve data and publish its findings on a more regular basis.
The ministry has previously released figures on an annual basis. Such information is viewed as sensitive by the Chinese state due to its strategic importance.
China found 132 large and medium-sized mineral deposits last year, mainly in the Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang autonomous regions along with the provinces of Yunnan, Henan and Gansu. Proven reserves included 2.38 billion tons of iron ore, 3.82 million tons of copper and 4.45 million tons of lead, show the data.
In another move aimed at securing raw material supplies, China is encouraging overseas investment in natural resources - in particular iron ore - as a central part of the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015).
- GD