It is the first time that China has set up and approved provincial mineral exploration programs since 1949.

Pan Wencan, director of Planning Development under the Ministry of Land and Resources, said that the establishment of the programs will improve the efficiency of the exploration and the efficiency of the use of the country's mineral resources. It will also guarantee the sustainable development of the country's mining industry.

According to him, China's mining industry has a long history of problems, such as surpluses, shortages, the inefficient use of mineral resources, excessive exporting of the country's rich mineral resources, including tungsten, stannum, stibium, rare earth, fluorite and barite, and a negative environmental impact.

Pan said those problems have impeded the sustainble developmentof the country's mining industry.

The newly-approved provincial-level mineral resources exploration programs are expected to help guarantee the sustainable development of the mining industry through the following six initiatives:

-- Intensifying the search for new mineral resources near large and medium-sized mines;

-- Strengthening the macro-control of the exploration and use of mineral resources;

-- Utilizing mineral resources in a more rational and scientific way;

-- Extracting some rare minerals in an environmentally-friendly manner;

-- Building a stable mineral resource supply system;

-- Building a "green mining industry" in China by adopting more ecological environmental protection measures while mining mineral resources.

(Xinhua News Agency January 16, 2002)