Beijing, 8 November 2010

China plans to spend 30 billion yuan ($4.5 billion) over the next five years on mineral exploration to reduce its escalating reliance on imports, Xinhua reported on Sunday. Explorations will be launched in 21 provinces, said Wang Min, vice minister of the Ministry of Land and Resources.

China has become a major importer of ores and metals from around the world to feed it's robust economic growth. Over the next five years, domestic excavation should help reduce imports of copper ore, iron ore, and sylvite to less than 75 percent, 50 percent, and 60 percent, respectively, of the total amounts consumed in China, said Chen Renyi, director of the ministry's China Geological Survey.

China is boosting domestic minerals exploration spending in an effort to reduce the country's dependence on imports of iron ore and copper.

Five deposits in the provinces of Liaoning, Hebei, Henan, Shandong and Shanxi may hold up to 5 billion tonnes of iron ore. However, several of these deposits are of low-grade ore, requiring China to still import large quantities of higher-grade iron ore. As much as 38.5 million tonnes of copper ore reserves were discovered in Tibet, Xinjiang and Yunnan last year.

Chen Renyi, director of the China Geological Survey's Department of Mineral Resources Assessment, said, imports of copper ore, iron ore and sylvite (potassium chloride), should account for respectively, less than 75%, 50% and 60% of minerals' consumption in China over the next five years.

Meanwhile, Xinhua also reported that China may also tighten environmental regulations on rare earth mining, which will increase production costs and may raise the cost of China's rare earth exports.

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