China Daily:

We all know that Gansu is a province with large mineral resources, and its reserves of many minerals rank first in the country. What has Gansu done in the exploration and development of mineral resources? What are the next steps being considered? Thank you.

Ren Zhenhe:

Thank you for your interest in the development and utilization of mineral resources in Gansu. Gansu is a province rich in mineral resources. We are capable to make contributions to foster a unified national market as well as a new development dynamic with the domestic economy as the mainstay, with the domestic economy and international engagement both providing mutual reinforcement. My colleague Mr. Lei will answer your questions.

Lei Siwei:

Thank you for your questions. Just as Mr. Ren mentioned, Gansu is a treasure house of energy and resources, being well-known as the "hometown of non-ferrous metals" across the country. At present, more than 190 kinds of minerals have been discovered in the province, 134 kinds of which have been identified with reserves. Among them, the reserves of 12 kinds of mineral resources, such as nickel, cobalt and platinum, rank first in the country. Each kind of mineral has the potential and prospect to foster an industrial chain and even drive a large-scale industry. In recent years, we have made full use of Gansu's capabilities to comprehensively improve the quality of exploration, development and supply of mineral resources to meet the needs of the country. While promoting our own high-quality development, we have actively contributed to the nation's overall development.

All efforts have been made to discover as many minerals in the province as we can. We have vigorously carried out a new round of strategic campaign on mineral exploration, implementing it in a scientific and coordinated manner. Since the 14th Five-Year Plan started in 2021, Gansu's cumulative investment in geological exploration has ranked among the top in the country. We formed a mineral exploration structure in the province that is led by fiscal funds and is widely participated in with broad social capital. For example, currently identified reserves of coal resources in Gansu rank sixth in the country, with the coal output in 2023 nearly double compared to three years ago.

We try our best to fully utilize all the resources that have been found. We have established a normalized mechanism for the allocation of mining rights, promoted transformation and have increased revenue, so as to attract more companies to participate in the exploration and development of mineral resources. Thanks to market means and efficient resource allocation, an industrial cluster in mining development has been created covering all links related to prospecting, transferring, mining and utilization, which has transformed resource advantages into economic and development advantages to the greatest extent. At present, the scale and intensiveness of mining in the province have been significantly improved, and the structure of resource development and utilization has been further optimized. The mining economy has gradually become a powerful support to regional development.

Simultaneously, we are committed to green development. We are better coordinating our efforts in exploring mines and protecting the environment, consistently applying the concept of green development throughout the whole process of mineral exploration and development. We promote the application of green exploration technologies, apply green mining techniques and enhance greening efforts in mining areas. We have taken the lead in establishing a system of green mine standards nationwide. It is expected that 90% of large mines and 80% of medium-sized mines in the province will meet the standards for green mining by 2028.

In the next step, we will implement the new development philosophy in a complete, accurate and comprehensive manner. With the goal of enhancing our capacity to ensure mineral resource security, we will focus on the overall situation, keep an eye on key minerals, and continuously promote a new round of strategic actions to make breakthroughs in mineral exploration. We will advance our efforts in the exploration, development and production of important energy and mineral resources. Through more policy support, technology application and flexible mechanisms, we aim to promote the high-quality development of the mining industry with more efforts and make greater contributions to ensuring the security of national energy and resources. Thank you.