Beijing (CNS) -- The five years from 2006 to 2010 saw China's significant developments in exploration of major mineral resources, substantial growth of reserves and great potential of indentifying more mineral resources, according to the Report on China's Mineral Resources (2011) released by the Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR) on November 3.
Major breakthroughs were made in discovering mines of urgently-needed mineral resources, including iron, copper and sylvine, during the latest survey of land and resources.
From 2006 to 2010, a total of 2,839 mines were found; seven large oil fields with a reserve of over 100 million tons each, 10 gas fields with a reserve of over 100 billion square meters reserve each, three coal mines with a reserve of over 10 billion tons each, two iron mines with a reserve of over one billion tons each, and two copper mines with a reserve of over 100 billion tons each, were discovered or evaluated.
On average, 36% of all mineral resources and 26% of oil have been identified, said Zhang Hongtao, chief engineer of MLR.
The annual report, the first of its kind in China, was compiled to provide comprehensive information about China's mineral resource reserves, detection, exploration and marketization, said Han Haiqing, director of MLR's information center.
