Against the backdrop of international turmoil and the global economic downturn, how to adjust and optimize mining policies at the national level, lower the threshold for prospecting rights and the cost of mining rights, stimulate the vitality of the mining market, further regulate the mining industry, and ensure the safety of the economy, industry and national mineral resources has become the focus of the mining industry in 2023. After sorting out the top 10 mining policies in 2023, which one do you think has the greatest impact? Welcome to leave a message for discussion.

1. Strictly prevent illegal mining and damage to arable land in the name of ecological restoration

On April 6, the Ministry of Natural Resources issued a notice that all localities should strictly prevent illegal mining and damage to arable land in the name of ecological restoration, and made specific and detailed provisions on the use of natural resources, the use of the sea, and the use of islands. In terms of the use of the sea and islands, it is strictly forbidden to implement in disguise and cause actual filling (enclosure) of the sea or artificial siltation in the name of marine ecological protection and restoration. In island restoration projects, it is strictly forbidden to implement all kinds of violations of laws and regulations such as quarrying, digging sea sand, and felling trees to damage uninhabited islands. All localities should make full use of remote sensing, mapping, geological survey and other technical means to supervise and manage the progress and effects of ecological restoration projects; adhere to planning first and implementation later, and strictly prevent illegal mining and destruction of cultivated land in the name of ecological restoration.

2. Deepen the reform of mineral resource transfer and management, and fully implement competitive and net mine transfer

On April 12, the Ministry of Natural Resources’ official website released the “Opinions of the Ministry of Natural Resources on Several Issues on Deepening the Reform of Mineral Resource Management (Draft for Comments)”.

Regarding the transfer of mining rights, the “Opinions” proposed that, first, the competitive transfer of mining rights should be fully promoted. Except for special circumstances such as transfer by agreement, other mining rights shall be transferred by public competition through bidding, auction, and listing, and shall be implemented in accordance with the “Mining Rights Transfer Transaction Rules”.

Second, strictly control the transfer of mining rights by agreement. For rare earth and radioactive mineral exploration and mining projects or key construction projects approved by the State Council, the natural resources authorities may transfer mining rights to specific entities by agreement. The local natural resources authorities shall apply to the local people’s government at the same level for the consent of the transfer of mining rights by agreement, and the Ministry of Natural Resources shall first seek the opinions of the provincial people’s government for the transfer of mining rights by agreement.

Third, actively promote the transfer of "clean mines", implement the transfer of "clean mines" for sand, gravel and soil mining rights, and actively promote the transfer of "clean mines" for other types of minerals.

Fourth, implement the same-level management of the registration of the transfer of prospecting rights and mining rights for the same type of mineral.

3. Implement the new management measures for the collection of mining rights transfer income to reduce the cost of obtaining mines

On April 14, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Natural Resources and the State Administration of Taxation jointly issued a major notice to revise and issue the "Measures for the Collection of Mining Rights Transfer Income" (Caizong [2023] No. 10, referred to as "Document No. 10"). "Document No. 10" continues to implement most of the current provisions of the "Interim Measures for the Collection and Management of Mining Rights Transfer Income" (Caizong [2017] No. 35, referred to as "Document No. 35") that have troubled some companies, and combined with the actual situation of collection and management, some provisions have been refined, adjusted and supplemented, and the "Document No. 35" that has been controversial in the industry for many years has been abolished!

The notice clearly states that in order to further improve the paid use system of mineral resources, standardize the collection and management of mining rights transfer income, safeguard the rights and interests of the state owner of mineral resources, promote the protection and rational use of mineral resources, and promote the healthy and orderly development of related industries, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Natural Resources, and the State Administration of Taxation have formulated the "Measures for the Collection of Mining Rights Transfer Income".

In terms of the collection method of transfer income, the payment pressure of enterprises is reduced. For the 144 mineral species in the "Mineral Type Catalog" (accounting for 83.2% of the 173 statutory mineral species), the mining rights transfer income is paid in two parts: "collection by amount" and "collection by rate year by year". Among them, the "collection by amount" part is determined according to the competition results in the transfer link. The difference in owner's rights due to different resource endowments can be reflected in the transfer link. The "collection by rate year by year" part is paid annually by the mining right holder according to a certain proportion of sales revenue (i.e., transfer yield) after mining and sales.

The proportion of down payment collected in the form of amount is reduced, the installment payment period is extended to the greatest extent, and the relevant provisions on market benchmark prices are refined. The optimization and adjustment of the collection method of transfer income is conducive to maintaining the market competition mechanism, ensuring the safety and effective use of resources; it also respects the objective laws of mining exploration and development, focuses on solving the problem of the fast collection rhythm, balances the time distribution of the financial burden of mining rights holders, reduces corporate costs, dispels the concerns of some geological exploration units, and encourages the acceleration of mining and production to release production capacity as soon as possible.

In terms of the connection between the old and new policies, the collection policies of the transfer income of new and old mining rights are classified and clarified. Distinguishing between three time periods before July 1, 2017, from July 1, 2017 to the date of implementation of the "Measures", and after the date of implementation of the "Measures", combined with whether the mining rights involve the state's investment in the exploration of mineral deposits and whether the mineral species is included in the "Mineral Type Catalog", detailed regulations are made respectively. At the same time, it is emphasized that the signed contracts or installment payment approvals will no longer be adjusted, and the mining rights holders can continue to pay the remaining part according to the contract agreement or approval. For some enterprises that owe mining rights transfer income, if the pressure of one-time payment is greater, installment payment is allowed.

4. Further optimize the prospecting rights reduction system, stimulate market vitality, force exploration, and avoid abandonment!

On July 6, the Ministry of Natural Resources responded to the 14th National People's Congress No. 0109 "Suggestions on Optimizing China's Sea Oil and Gas Exploration Rights" and pointed out that the reduction of the prospecting rights area is an important measure to implement the reform deployment of the Party Central Committee and the State Council. In 2017, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council made arrangements for the reform of the oil and gas system and the reform of the mining rights transfer system, and clearly required the orderly opening of the oil and gas exploration and development market, the implementation of a more stringent block withdrawal mechanism and exploration block competition transfer system. In December 2019, the Ministry of Natural Resources studied and formulated the "Opinions on Promoting the Reform of Mineral Resources Management (Trial)", comprehensively promoting the open competition transfer of mining rights; liberalizing the market access for oil and gas exploration and development, reducing the area by 25% when the prospecting rights are extended, urging enterprises to speed up exploration, and preventing "encirclement without exploration". The situation of "abandonment" of a large number of blocks has been significantly improved, stimulating market vitality, and forcing to increase exploration efforts.

At present, the Ministry of Natural Resources intends to further optimize the prospecting rights reduction system. First, the reduction base is adjusted from the area of the first permit to the actual area of the exploration license at the time of renewal; second, the reduction ratio is reduced from 25% to 20%; third, the proven reserve area is removed from the reduction base. According to regulations, oil and gas prospecting rights can deduct the same area of other blocks of the prospecting right holder in the same basin, and the oil and gas mining right holder can choose not to reduce the prospecting rights area of energy bases, etc. by replacing the reduction area.

5. The starting price standard for the transfer of mining rights is issued to lower the threshold for obtaining prospecting rights

On August 25, the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Ministry of Finance put forward guiding opinions on the formulation of the starting price standard for the transfer of mining rights. The guiding opinions will be implemented from the date of issuance and will be valid for 5 years.

The guiding opinions propose that the starting price standard for the transfer of mining rights for non-oil and gas minerals (excluding rare earths and radioactive minerals) is mainly determined based on the area of mining rights, taking into account mineralization conditions, exploration degree and other factors. The provincial natural resources authorities and financial departments may adjust the starting price standard (reference value) of the mining rights transfer income based on the starting price standard of the non-oil and gas mineral mining rights transfer income stipulated in the Guiding Opinions in light of the actual situation in their regions, with the adjustment not exceeding 10%. The specific implementation standards shall be announced and implemented after being reported to the provincial people's government for approval. After the standards are formulated, they will not be adjusted in principle. When formulating standards, all localities should fully consider promoting the active market for prospecting rights transfer, lowering the threshold for obtaining prospecting rights, and not linking them with resource reserves. The starting price standard for the transfer income of rare earth and radioactive mineral mining rights shall be implemented in accordance with the starting price standard for the transfer income of non-oil and gas mineral mining rights stipulated in the Guiding Opinions.

The Guiding Opinions stipulate that the starting price = starting price standard × adjustment coefficient of mineralization geological conditions × adjustment coefficient of exploration work degree × mining rights area.

In addition, the starting price standard for the transfer income of oil and gas mineral mining rights shall be implemented in accordance with the starting price standard for the transfer income of oil and gas mineral mining rights stipulated in the Guiding Opinions.

6. Further strengthen mine safety production work, coal mines and other mines are strictly controlled

On September 6, the General Office of the CPC Central Committee and the General Office of the State Council issued the "Opinions on Further Strengthening Mine Safety Production Work".

The Opinion requires strict access to mine safety production. Strict access to coal mines with serious disasters, stop the construction of coal mines with coal and gas outbursts, rock bursts, and extremely complex hydrogeological types with a capacity of less than 900,000 tons/year; strictly control the source of non-coal mines. Except for the circumstances that meet the regulations, the scope of newly established mining rights shall not overlap with the vertical projection scope of existing mining rights, and no more than two mining rights shall be established for the same ore body that can be developed in a centralized manner; standardize administrative licenses for safe production, and the safety facility design review and safety production license approval of coal mines, metal and non-metal underground mines, tailings ponds and other mines shall be the responsibility of the mine safety supervision departments at or above the provincial level, and shall not be delegated or entrusted.

The Opinion points out that it is necessary to promote the transformation and upgrading of mines. Classify and dispose of mines that do not meet the conditions for safe production, promote the closure and cancellation of tailings ponds, implement the integration and reorganization of non-coal mines, accelerate the upgrading and transformation of mines, improve the support capacity for scientific and technological innovation, and strengthen the construction of the scientific and technological support system for mine safety. In terms of preventing and defusing major safety risks, the Opinions require that the mine safety management system should be improved, major disaster management should be strengthened, equipment and facilities safety management should be strictly enforced, non-coal mine outsourcing project management should be standardized, safety control of suspended mines should be strengthened, and risk monitoring, early warning and disposal capabilities should be improved.

In addition, the Opinions also emphasize strengthening the main responsibility of enterprises, implementing the responsibility of local party and government leaders and the supervision and inspection responsibilities of departments, promoting the legal governance of mine safety and strengthening organizational implementation.

7. Clarify the land acceptance requirements for the reclamation and restoration of existing mining land, and ensure the standardization of mine land

On June 19, the General Office of the Ministry of Natural Resources issued the "Notice on Clarifying the Relevant Requirements for the Acceptance of Land Reclamation and Restoration of Existing Mining Land", aiming to implement the "Notice of the Ministry of Natural Resources on Doing a Good Job in Mining Land Guarantee" on linking the new land for mining projects with the reclamation and restoration of existing mining land, and standardize the land acceptance work for the reclamation and restoration of existing mining land.

The "Notice" clarifies that existing mining land is divided into "historical abandoned mining land" where the obligor has disappeared and "enterprise existing mining land" where the obligor has gone through the approval procedures for construction land. For abandoned mining land left over from history, the principle of "whoever implements, whoever is responsible" shall be followed; for existing mining land of enterprises, the principle of "mining and managing at the same time" shall be followed to implement reclamation and restoration.

The "Notice" emphasizes that the quality of reclamation and restoration should be strictly controlled, especially to ensure that the quality of cultivated land and other agricultural land formed by reclamation and restoration meets the soil environmental quality requirements and relevant safety utilization standards. When implementing reclamation and restoration projects, the legality and compliance should be reviewed. Before the implementation of reclamation and restoration projects, the nature of existing mining land should be verified, and the land type, area and quality after reclamation and restoration should be verified. At the same time, the follow-up management after the acceptance of reclamation and restoration should be strengthened, and the changes in land types in the project area should be tracked and verified in a timely manner. If the area of agricultural land is reduced, it should be rectified in a timely manner; if the rectification is not in place, the withdrawal indicators shall not be used.

The "Notice" clarifies that the acceptance of land reclamation and restoration of existing mining land shall be applied for by the project undertaking unit or mining enterprise, and the natural resources department shall be carried out together with relevant departments in accordance with the procedures of preliminary inspection at the municipal and county level and final inspection at the provincial level. If the newly added cultivated land is intended to be used for occupation and compensation balance, the acceptance of supplementary cultivated land shall be carried out simultaneously in accordance with the relevant requirements for acceptance of supplementary cultivated land.

The "Notice" requires that provincial natural resources authorities should promote the establishment of a unified and open land reclamation and restoration index database and trading platform for existing mining land; municipal and county natural resources authorities should strengthen the organization and implementation of reclamation and restoration and the supervision of the entire process; relevant supporting units should do a good job in service guarantee work

8. Increase the transfer of lithium mining blocks and promote the exploration and development of lithium resources

In October, the Ministry of Natural Resources actively promoted the transfer of lithium mining blocks, increased the supply of lithium mining sources, and met market demand. At present, nearly 20 lithium mining blocks in Xinjiang, Sichuan, Jiangxi, Yunnan and other provinces are actively carrying out relevant preparatory work for the transfer. In the future, through multiple channels such as prospecting target area evaluation and provincial natural resources authorities reporting, the source of blocks will be continuously expanded and included in the transfer plan.

In recent years, the Ministry of Natural Resources has attached great importance to lithium mines in mineral resource management and included them in the national mineral resource planning as strategic minerals. In 2019, lithium mines will be collected as one of the 14 mineral species managed at the ministry level, and the Ministry of Natural Resources will be responsible for the registration of mining rights transfer. Since 2023, the Ministry of Natural Resources has continuously increased policy supply to encourage mining investment and prosper the mining market, and has made every effort to create a good policy environment. It has issued a series of new mining management policies for transaction rules, transfer income, exploration and mining registration, and adopted a number of positive incentive measures for mineral development, including lithium mines, which will help boost the confidence of mining investors and further promote the prosperity and sustainable development of the mining market.

9. Establish a coal mine capacity reserve system, and some coal mines will receive policy support

On December 6, the National Development and Reform Commission issued the "Implementation Opinions on Establishing a Coal Mine Capacity Reserve System (Draft for Comments)", and publicly solicited opinions from the public on the establishment of a coal mine capacity reserve system, aiming to establish a coal mine capacity reserve system, which will effectively improve my country's coal reserve system.

According to the "Draft for Comments", capacity reserve coal mines will receive support in three aspects:

First, capacity replacement policy preferences will be given. For capacity reserve coal mines, if new coal mines build reserve capacity at 20%, 25%, and 30% of the designed capacity, 60%, 80%, and 100% of their new capacity (including conventional capacity and reserve capacity) will be exempted from capacity replacement. For those whose capacity replacement plans have been reviewed and confirmed (including coal mines under construction), 60%, 80% and 100% of the total capacity replacement indicators can be used separately, and the indicators will no longer be converted.

Second, optimize and adjust the overall planning and planning environmental impact assessment requirements of the mining area. Capacity reserve coal mines must strictly follow the approved mining area master plan and planning environmental impact assessment to go through the relevant approval procedures. When there are major changes in resource reserves and mining conditions, on the premise of meeting the service life requirements, the design capacity can float 1 to 3 design differences based on the overall planning of the coal mining area. In principle, the maximum increase should be less than 30% of the planned construction scale, and there will be no major planning adjustments stipulated in Document No. 63 of Environmental Protection and Assessment [2020]. The above-mentioned optimization and adjustment belongs to the situation of non-major adjustments to the overall planning of the coal mining area, and a partial adjustment plan can be prepared and submitted to the original planning approval authority for approval.

Third, implement the separate listing of new coal production capacity indicators. For capacity reserve coal mines, the reserve capacity scale does not occupy the new capacity indicators of the province and region determined by the national coal development plan.

10. Explore supporting policies for land and mine use by green mining enterprises

The Ministry of Natural Resources mentioned in the "Letter on Reply to Proposal No. 00429 of the First Session of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference" that the Ministry of Natural Resources will comprehensively and steadily promote the construction of green mines, explore supporting policies for land and mine use by green mining enterprises, and work with relevant departments to study and formulate supporting and restrictive policy measures to effectively mobilize the enthusiasm of local governments and mining enterprises to build green mines.

The Ministry of Natural Resources has currently drafted and completed the "Notice on Further Strengthening the Construction of Green Mines (Draft for Comments)", which intends to transform the construction of green mines from demonstration and guidance to comprehensive promotion, accurately classify and implement policies for various types of mines, and strictly build and operate new mines in accordance with green mine standards. The creation requirements and liability for breach of contract are clearly stated in the mining rights transfer contract, and production mines are accelerated to upgrade and transform.