China's Ministry of Natural Resources recently announced substantial growth in low-grade and associated mineral resources. Newly identified reserves of cobalt and rhenium surged by over 100%, while nickel and indium reserves increased by more than 30%. This transformation has revitalized dormant deposits and expanded small-scale mines into larger operations, effectively extending the service life of mining sites.
China's comprehensive advancement of green mine construction has effectively enhanced resource conservation and intensive utilization. Mining enterprises treat the “three rates”—extraction recovery rate, beneficiation recovery rate, and comprehensive utilization rate—as binding indicators. They continuously innovate process technologies and equipment, promote a range of advanced and applicable technologies, and comprehensively improve resource utilization levels. Mining enterprises actively leverage technologies such as 5G, IoT, and AI to advance digital and intelligent mining operations. This has enabled “mining without visible ore” and “unmanned mining,” establishing numerous unmanned mining workfaces while significantly boosting mineral resource development efficiency.
Concurrently, China has largely established a green development model, implementing the “mine while you restore” principle. Ecological restoration plans for mining areas are strictly enforced, with environmental remediation and ecological recovery conducted in phases and by region. This approach continuously improves mining area ecosystems and promotes site-specific greening initiatives.
In advancing green mining, enterprises actively pursue dual carbon goals by vigorously promoting clean energy substitution, achieving energy conservation, consumption reduction, and carbon emission cuts. Strict controls on the discharge of “three wastes” (wastewater, waste gas, and solid waste) have been enforced, pollution prevention at the source has been strengthened, and waste disposal and comprehensive utilization have been enhanced. Waste rock and tailings are utilized for backfilling mining operations or ecological restoration in mining areas, while treated wastewater and mine water are recycled for mining and beneficiation operations or mining area greening.
A relevant official from the Ministry of Natural Resources stated that China's economy and society have now entered a stage of green, low-carbon, and high-quality development. Promoting the green, efficient, and low-carbon exploration, development, and utilization of mineral resources is a crucial component of ecological civilization construction and the comprehensive green transformation of the mining sector.
Simultaneously, green mine construction has established clear requirements in areas such as comprehensive resource utilization, green and low-carbon practices, ecological restoration, and technological innovation. Advancing green mine construction comprehensively facilitates resource conservation and intensive use, enhances supply chain resilience, ensures energy and resource security, and represents the essential path to achieving high-quality development in the mining industry. Building green mines, implementing energy conservation and emission reduction policies, promoting clean energy substitution, and strengthening ecological restoration have become voluntary actions for mining enterprises to proactively adapt to and deeply integrate with the “dual carbon” goals.
The aforementioned official stated that the newly revised Mineral Resources Law officially took effect in July this year. This revision represents a comprehensive, systematic, and reconstructive overhaul, holding significant importance for safeguarding national energy and resource security and promoting high-quality development in the mining sector. The revised law implements the new development philosophy, particularly the requirements for green development, integrating ecological civilization construction throughout all aspects of mineral resource management. It explicitly states that the state encourages and supports the green and low-carbon transformation of the mining industry and strengthens green mine construction. This not only highlights the importance of green mine construction in promoting the green and low-carbon transformation of the mining industry but also provides a legal basis for green mine construction.
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