The Ministry of Land and Natural Resources is Preparing to Delete the Approval Right for Mineral Resources Geological Prospecting

Yu Haifeng, Deputy Director of Geological Prospecting Department and Executive Deputy Director of the Mineral Prospecting Office under the Ministry of Land and Natural Resources, disclosed at the recently concluded National Prospecting Meeting for 2013 that, the Ministry of Land and Natural Resources is considering delegating the approval right of mineral resource geological prospecting issue.

Specifically speaking, the Ministry of Land and Natural Resources plans to delegate three rights: Firstly, approval right of execution plan is delegated to each province. Previously, geological prospecting execution is submitted by provincial authority to the Ministry for approval; Secondly, approval of mining title setup plan is delegated to the provincial authority,previously, the annual plan and method of geological prospecting mining title setup must be submitted by provincial authority to the Ministry; thirdly, the approval of geological prospecting mining title is delegated.

In March 2013, the State Council requested all ministries to reduce and delegate a batch of investment approval items. On May 15, the first batch of 117 administrative approvals or fees will be cancelled or delegated, whereas the Ministry of Land and Natural Resources has not a single item under its name as execution entity. According to Yu Haifeng, the above ap-proval right delegation issues are proposed in response to the spirit of the State Council to reduce and delegate administrative approval rights.

Promoting geological prospecting is the most important handle for making prospecting breakthroughs. According to schedule, by 2020,China must develop 100 geological prospecting mining zones, up till now a total of 78 zones have been reported, the Ministry of Land and Natural Resources will organize dynamic assessment of these 78 zones, those with poor quality will be abandoned, prospecting of those with promising potential will be continued.

Among the above preferential policies targeted at geological prospecting, the core issue is the reform of geological prospecting mining zone mining title. The current situation of exploration rights and mining rights in China is as follows: Exploration right is separated from mining zone, because of complicated administrative approval and the interest relation being involved, it is often difficult for any exploration right holder to obtain mining right promptly after submitting application, which discourages exploration right holders’ initiative. Whereas the mining title reform which encourages exploitation-mining integration included in reforms to be implemented as supporting measure for geological prospecting zones will significantly drive social capital to enter the prospecting business.