During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, these aspects of the mining industry deserve close attention.

The “Suggestions of the CPC Central Committee on Formulating the 14th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives for 2035” (hereinafter referred to as the “Suggestions”) notes that China’s development environment is undergoing profound and complex changes. At present and in the period ahead, China’s development remains in an important strategic period of opportunity; however, both opportunities and challenges are evolving in new ways. What opportunities and challenges will the mining sector face during the 14th Five-Year Plan period?

Strategic emerging mineral resources will take center stage in the industry.

The “Proposal” states that it is necessary to develop strategic emerging industries and accelerate the growth of sectors such as next-generation information technology, biotechnology, new energy, new materials, high-end equipment, new-energy vehicles, green and environmentally friendly industries, as well as aerospace and marine equipment.

The development of the aforementioned industries is inseparable from the support of strategic emerging mineral resources. Taking new‑energy vehicles as an example, on November 2, the General Office of the State Council issued a notice promulgating the “New‑Energy Vehicle Industry Development Plan (2021–2035),” which will bring significant benefits to the rapid growth of upstream and downstream sectors related to mineral resources such as copper, aluminum, lithium, nickel, cobalt, and platinum. Looking ahead, as China’s strategic emerging industries continue to flourish, strategic emerging mineral resources will assume a central role across the entire sector.

The domestic mining industry’s operating environment will continue to improve.

The Proposal emphasizes the need to ensure the smooth functioning of the domestic circulation and to promote both domestic and international dual circulations. It calls for optimizing the supply structure, enhancing supply quality, and improving the supply system’s alignment with domestic demand. Efforts should be made to foster coordinated development across industrial sectors, including energy and resources. Grounded in the domestic circulation, we will leverage our comparative advantages, jointly advance the building of a robust domestic market and a trading powerhouse, attract global resources and factors through the domestic circulation, and make full use of both domestic and international markets and resources.

China is a major producer and consumer of mineral resources, with high levels of external dependence for many of them. In the face of an increasingly uncertain and complex international environment, we must proactively identify and mitigate various risks and potential hazards, while further improving the domestic mining sector’s development environment as we actively engage in global cooperation on mineral resource exploration and development.

Domestic oil and gas exploration and development will be further strengthened.

The “Proposal” calls for advancing the energy revolution, improving the energy production, supply, storage, and sales system, strengthening domestic oil and gas exploration and development, accelerating the construction of oil and gas storage facilities, speeding up the development of national trunk oil and gas pipelines, and building a smart energy system.

In 2019, China’s geological exploration investment totaled RMB 99.34 billion, of which RMB 82.129 billion was allocated to oil and gas exploration, accounting for over 82%. Moreover, oil and gas exploration spending increased by more than 22% compared with 2018. Looking ahead, geological exploration investment in China is expected to remain heavily concentrated in the oil and gas sector, further bolstering domestic oil and gas resource exploration and development.

Higher requirements are being imposed on the carbon emissions of mining enterprises.

The “Proposal” calls for accelerating green and low‑carbon development. It emphasizes strengthening the legal and policy framework to support green development, fostering innovation in green technologies, promoting clean production, developing the environmental protection industry, and advancing the green transformation of key industries and critical sectors. It also seeks to promote the clean, low‑carbon, safe, and efficient use of energy.

At present, curbing carbon emissions has become a top priority in the development strategies of major global mining companies. Rio Tinto plans to achieve net-zero operational emissions by 2050; Vale aims to help the mining sector attain carbon neutrality by the end of 2050; and Anglo American intends to achieve carbon neutrality across all its operations by 2040. Meanwhile, China’s mining industry is also placing increasing emphasis on addressing carbon emissions.

Comprehensively enhance the efficiency of mineral resource utilization.

The “Proposal” emphasizes the need to comprehensively enhance resource‑use efficiency. It calls for improving the property‑rights system and legal framework for natural resources, strengthening the survey, assessment, monitoring, and registration of natural resource rights, establishing mechanisms to realize the value of ecological products, refining market‑based and diversified ecological compensation schemes, and advancing total‑quantity management, scientific allocation, comprehensive conservation, and circular utilization of resources.

To promote the conservation and comprehensive utilization of mineral resources by mining enterprises, as of the first half of 2020, the Ministry of Natural Resources had issued a total of eight batches of minimum benchmark requirements for the “three rates” of rational exploration, development, and utilization across 77 mineral types. Going forward, the efficiency of mineral resource utilization in China is bound to improve further.

Continue to advance global cooperation in the development of mineral resources.

The Proposal calls for advancing high-quality development of the Belt and Road Initiative. It emphasizes upholding the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution, and shared benefits; adhering to the concepts of green development, openness, and integrity; deepening practical cooperation; strengthening security safeguards; and promoting common development. It also underscores a market‑oriented approach with enterprises as the main actors, in line with international norms and the principle of debt sustainability, while working to improve a diversified investment and financing framework.

In recent years, China’s mining industry has actively responded to the Belt and Road Initiative, steadily expanding and deepening international capacity‑cooperation, with notable progress. Looking ahead, China will continue to uphold the new development philosophy, proactively engage in global mining‑development cooperation, and work together to advance the worldwide mining sector. There remains significant potential for Chinese mining enterprises to pursue overseas partnerships in the exploration and development of mineral resources.

National energy and resource security will be better safeguarded.

The “Proposal” states that it is necessary to ensure the security and controllability of key sectors, including critical industries, infrastructure, strategic resources, and major scientific and technological fields. It also calls for safeguarding energy security and the security of strategic mineral resources.

Energy and strategic mineral resource security are integral components of national security. In the future, China’s mining sector will play a pivotal role in safeguarding both energy and strategic mineral resource security.

Mining enterprises will prioritize workplace safety.

The “Proposal” emphasizes the need to safeguard people’s lives and safety. It calls for improving and implementing the responsibility system for workplace safety, strengthening regulatory oversight and law enforcement in this area, and effectively curbing serious and extremely serious safety accidents involving hazardous chemicals, mining, construction, transportation, and other sectors.

People first, safety paramount. In the future, the mining industry will further strengthen measures to prevent and curb all types of production‑related accidents, ensuring the safety of miners.

Smart mines are poised to seize new opportunities for development.

The “Proposal” calls for deepening the integration of the Internet, big data, artificial intelligence, and other technologies with various industries; fostering the development of advanced manufacturing clusters; establishing a number of strategic emerging industry growth engines that are distinctive, mutually complementary, and structurally sound; and cultivating new technologies, new products, new business forms, and new models.

At present, the mining industry is in an exploratory phase of development. Whoever achieves breakthroughs in the smart mining sector will secure a stronger position in future competition.

Steel enterprises will undertake high-quality mergers and reorganizations.

The “Proposal” calls for encouraging corporate mergers and reorganizations to prevent low‑level redundant investment. According to the previously issued “Guiding Opinions on Promoting Mergers, Reorganizations, and the Resolution of Zombie Enterprises in the Steel Industry,” by 2025, 60% to 70% of China’s steel output will be concentrated within roughly ten large enterprise groups.

Mergers and reorganizations are not the end goal; the true objective is the rational allocation of resources and high-quality development. Steel enterprises will pursue high‑quality mergers and reorganizations.

In the face of unprecedented transformation, green practices, safety, harmony, intelligence, and efficiency are increasingly emerging as new guiding principles for the mining industry. The “Proposal” has charted a clear course for the sector’s development, presenting both opportunities and challenges for mining enterprises.