◎ Reporter Wu Qihua
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China and a crucial year for achieving the goals and tasks of the 14th Five-Year Plan. Recently, the intensive local two sessions have set the economic growth targets of their respective provinces in 2024 and deployed key tasks for the next stage. The reporter combed and found that most provinces set the expected economic growth target for this year between 5% ~ 6%, and took high-quality development as the top priority. So, under such an expected economic growth target, what are the focus points of the high-quality development of the mining industry, which provides mineral resources as an important material basis for economic and social development?
Focus point 1: expand domestic demand
Only by stabilizing growth can we stabilize expectations, stabilize employment, increase confidence and reassure the people. The implementation of the strategy of expanding domestic demand is an effective means to consolidate and enhance the upward trend of the economy and cope with external shocks, and at the same time, it can also "expand" new space for industrial development.
Expanding mining-related investment is an important starting point for expanding domestic demand.
The Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region proposed to speed up the construction of a large-scale coal distribution center in Ningdong. We will speed up the development and construction of 100 billion-level large-scale gas fields and oilfields in Yanchi, and achieve the goal of a total coal production capacity of more than 140 million tons and an oil and gas equivalent of 2 million tons in the region as soon as possible. Adhere to the advantages of resources and energy as a long-term, very important and irreplaceable support point and growth point for Ningxia. Heilongjiang Province proposed to start the construction of the Sino-Russian Far East Natural Gas Pipeline and other projects. Promote the construction of Daqing continental shale oil national demonstration zone. Chongqing Municipality proposed to start the construction of a number of coal storage bases. Guizhou Province proposes to strengthen the modern energy industry and vigorously develop the intensive processing of mineral resources. Shaanxi Province proposed to promote the construction of two 100-billion-level projects of 15 million tons of coal quality utilization in Shaanxi Coal and comprehensive utilization of coal in the national circular economy. The Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region proposed to speed up the implementation of key projects such as the start of construction of six new mines in the region and the "Xinjiang Coal into Ningbo" outside the region, and vigorously support the investment of central enterprises.
In the deployment of the future industry, the mining industry is not absent, but towards a higher and newer goal.
Shanxi Province proposes to promote the early commissioning of major projects such as the global headquarters of Huawei's mining corps. Sichuan Province proposes to deepen the construction of Panxi National Strategic Resources Innovation and Development Pilot Zone and build a national vanadium and titanium strategic material base. Heilongjiang Province proposes to make a forward-looking layout of future industries such as deep space, deep sea, and deep earth, and cultivate the formation of new quality productivity. Jiangsu Province proposes to open up new tracks for industries such as hydrogen energy and new energy storage, deep sea, deep earth, aerospace and space. Jiangxi Province proposes to strive for a national laboratory research base and a national key laboratory in the fields of rare earths, nuclear resources, and non-ferrous metals. Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region proposed to actively promote the establishment of Helan Mountain Laboratory and the reorganization of the State Key Laboratory of Rare Metals.
Mineral safety is inseparable from the healthy and sustainable development of the mining industry. At the same time, improving the ability to ensure mineral safety is also one of the important foundations for consolidating the development of domestic demand.
Anhui Province proposed to continue to carry out a new round of strategic actions for prospecting breakthroughs. Shandong Province proposed to carry out a new round of strategic actions for mineral prospecting breakthroughs to promote the increase of oil and gas reserves and stable supply, and the annual handling capacity of coastal liquefied natural gas will reach more than 15 million tons. Guangdong Province proposes to increase the exploration and development of offshore oil and gas resources, promote the construction of Zhanjiang Wushi and Enping oilfields and the exploitation of natural gas hydrates in the South China Sea, and improve the ability to guarantee oil and gas supply. Sichuan Province proposes to carry out a new round of strategic actions for mineral prospecting breakthroughs to accelerate the development and transformation of strategic mineral resources. The Tibet Autonomous Region proposes to strengthen the green development of strategic resources such as copper and lithium, and realize the expansion of production capacity of advantageous minerals, and improve quality and efficiency. Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region proposes to vigorously promote a new round of strategic actions for breakthroughs in prospecting, accelerate oil and gas exploration in the Liupan Mountain Basin and Yinchuan Basin, effectively implement the plan to increase production and expand capacity of resources and energy, and effectively strengthen the security of industries and industrial chains.
Focus point 2: green and low-carbon
Implement green mining and carry out ecological restoration. Green is increasingly becoming the background color of the mainland mining industry.
In terms of green mining, Shanxi Province proposed to promote green mining technology around the construction of five major bases. Hunan Province proposes to transform and upgrade traditional industries such as green mining, accelerate the cultivation and attraction of leading enterprises, accelerate technological transformation and equipment renewal, and promote product structure adjustment and high-end development. Yunnan Province proposed to strengthen the construction of green mines.
It is worth mentioning that the development and utilization of geothermal energy, a clean energy, has been focused on in many places. Jilin Province proposes to promote the "Three Gorges of Global Geothermal Energy" project, make use of the advantages of clean energy such as wind and solar, and geothermal energy to promote efficient and clean heating technologies such as heat storage heating, waste heat heating, and phase change heat storage. Shanxi Province proposes to actively develop geothermal energy and biomass energy. Shandong Province proposes to speed up the demonstration project of geothermal energy development and utilization.
In terms of ecological restoration, the comprehensive treatment of coal mining subsidence areas and the ecological restoration of mines are highlighted. Shanxi Province proposes to highlight soil and water conservation, solidly promote the construction of the Luliang Mountain Landscape Project, implement the demonstration project of abandoned mines left over from history, and continue to promote the comprehensive treatment of coal mining subsidence areas. Jilin Province proposed to implement the "Shanshui" project and the "Historical Mine" demonstration project to restore a land area of 500,000 mu. Hebei Province proposed to restore 45,000 acres of historical mines. Liaoning Province proposes to speed up the comprehensive treatment of coal mining subsidence areas, Fushun West open-pit mines, Fuxin Haizhou open-pit mines and other mines, and further promote the greening of abandoned mines. Anhui Province proposed to speed up the comprehensive treatment of coal mining subsidence areas and repair more than 300 abandoned mines. Guangdong Province proposes to carry out ecological restoration of historical mines and explore a system of linking old and new mining land. Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region proposes to strengthen the ecological restoration of historical mines and solidly promote the establishment of the Southwest Karst National Park. Chongqing Municipality proposed to further promote the ecological restoration of manganese mines. Yunnan Province proposed to do a good job in the restoration of historical mines.
Focus point three: safe production
Mine safety production is related to the safety of people's lives and property, the overall situation of economic development and social stability, and is the top priority of safe production.
Key mining provinces have strengthened safety production work. Shanxi Province proposes to fully implement the responsibility of party and government leaders for coal mines, metal and non-metal underground mines, tailings ponds and other mines, focus on the supervision responsibility of the whole chain of "one thing" compacting departments, and improve safety production measures with "one mine and one policy". The Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region proposes to earnestly investigate and rectify potential safety hazards in key areas such as mines, accelerate the implementation of the standardization of coal mining enterprises, and ensure that the hidden dangers of major accidents are dynamically cleared. Hebei Province proposed to strengthen the safety supervision of mines and other mines, and resolutely curb the occurrence of major accidents. Jilin Province proposes to highlight key areas such as coal mines and non-coal mines, carry out hidden danger investigation and rectification on a regular basis, and effectively prevent and curb the occurrence of major accidents. Shandong Province proposed to strengthen safety supervision in key industries such as mines.
In addition, a number of provinces have proposed to strengthen the capacity and system construction of geological disaster prevention and control to ensure the safety of people's lives and property. Sichuan Province proposes to do a good job in the evacuation and relocation of villagers (residents) threatened by mountain floods and geological disasters, and rigidly implement a closed-loop management emergency mechanism from forecasting and early warning to disposal and implementation, so as to strictly prevent major casualties caused by flash floods and geological disasters. Hunan Province proposed to improve the prevention mechanism of flash floods and geological disasters, and enrich the grassroots emergency rescue force. Guangdong Province proposed to strengthen emergency drills such as earthquakes and geological disasters to enhance emergency response and rescue capabilities. Hebei Province proposed to implement a special action to investigate and rectify hidden dangers, scientifically prevent and control geological disasters, and comprehensively improve disaster prevention, mitigation and relief capabilities. Zhejiang Province proposed to do a good job in the prevention and control of geological disasters, and enhance the ability of emergency rescue, all-disaster security, and risk monitoring and early warning. Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region proposes to do a good job in the monitoring and management of geological hazards.
Focus point four: intelligent and efficient
The construction of intelligent mines in mainland China is in the ascendant. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Natural Resources and other nine departments recently issued the "Work Plan for the Digital Transformation of the Raw Material Industry (2024-2026)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan") to deploy the digital transformation of the raw material industry, among which the construction of intelligent mines is listed. The plan proposes to build a number of intelligent mines with digital resource management, intelligent production control, unmanned production process, and integrated safety management for the whole process of resource exploration, mining and beneficiation, ore transportation, and business decision-making.
According to the reporter's preliminary combing, two provinces have clearly proposed to strengthen the intelligent construction or transformation of mines.
Shanxi Province proposed to build 150 new intelligent coal mines, and the proportion of advanced coal production capacity reached 83%. Heilongjiang Province proposed to speed up the intelligent transformation of coal mines.
Regarding the development of intelligence and efficiency, some other provinces do not explicitly mention "mines", but mention the intelligent construction of "key industries", and perhaps there are also mining-related deployments. Taking a step back, even these two provinces are very representative. Especially in Shanxi, a major coal province, the intelligent level of coal mines is related to the overall intelligent level of the coal industry.
Focus point five: reform and opening up
The development of the mining industry needs a good policy environment and institutional guarantees. A number of provinces have put forward strong measures to deepen the reform of key areas and enhance the endogenous driving force of mining development.
Sichuan Province proposes to explore the establishment of an incentive mechanism to encourage social capital to participate in prospecting, improve the way of transferring mining rights, comprehensively use bidding, auction and listing to transfer mining rights, and standardize and optimize the transfer of mining rights agreements. Support qualified enterprises to obtain strategic mineral prospecting rights in accordance with the law. The Tibet Autonomous Region proposed to continue to comprehensively and strictly promote the reform of competitive transfer of mining rights. Yunnan Province proposes to speed up the transformation of the pilot results of the entrustment agency mechanism for the ownership of natural resource assets. Shanxi Province proposes to promote the market-oriented allocation of mineral resources, improve the coal and coke commodity trading market, and improve the market price formation mechanism of energy products.
Promoting the domestic and international dual circulation of mineral resources is inseparable from extensive and in-depth international cooperation in the mining industry. Shandong Province proposes to build a leading enterprise in the import and export supply chain, build an integrated model of the whole chain of production, transportation and trade, and expand the import of bulk commodities such as oil and gas, iron ore, and coal. We will further implement the three-year action for the construction of a world-class port cluster, and accelerate the construction of ore wharves in the Dongjiakou port area of Qingdao Port. The Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region proposed to implement the outcomes of the meeting between the leaders of China and Vietnam, strengthen cooperation in mineral resources, and actively serve the building of a community with a shared future between China and Vietnam of strategic significance. Chongqing Municipality proposed to explore the import distribution of bulk commodities such as energy and minerals. Shanxi Province proposed to do a good job in the China (Taiyuan) International Energy Industry Expo and China's industrial transfer and development docking activities. Tianjin proposes to lay out the northern ferrous metal ore storage and transportation base.