China's Ministry of Lands and Resources has stated that in the next few years China should accelerate the development of domestic ‘crisis mines', especially iron, copper, aluminium, lead and zinc mines.
Such mines, many of which were explored in the 1950s and were thought to have been exhausted, have since 2004 started to be examined again with a view to further exploitation.
In November this year, the ministry estimated that the total reserves of crisis mines in China include 5.3 billion mt of raw coal, 1.05 billion mt of iron ore, 11.26 million mt of manganese ore, 540,000 mt of chrome iron ore, 3.27 million mt of copper, and 8.49 million mt of lead zinc.
In its latest statement, China's Ministry of Lands and Resources has suggested that exploitation should be carried out at 300 crisis mines and that in-depth exploration should be organized at 15 other crisis mines. The ministry said that it expects that within eight to 10 years exploitation of old mines will indicate remarkable progress, with proven reserves at the mines reaching large- and medium-sized deposit scales.