On the morning of September 23, 2017, the Opening Ceremony of CHINA MINING Congress and Expo 2017 was held at Tianjin Meijiang Convention and Exhibition Center. Under the theme of "Promoting Mining Prosperity under the Silk Road Spirit", the event discussed global mining situation and policies, mining investment and finance, mining exploration and development, and green development of mining industry. The photo shows that the Hon. Jiang Daming, Minister of Land and Resources PRC and President of Organizing Committee of CHINA MINING 2017, was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony. (Photo: Yu Hongqi Editor: Xu Xiaojing)
Distinguished Secretary-General Li Hongzhong, Mayor Wang Dongfeng,
Ladies, Gentlemen and Dear Friends:
Good morning!
In this golden autumn, we get together in Tianjin to attend CHINA MINING Congress and Expo 2017. First, on behalf o the Organizing Committee of CHINA MINING Congress and Expo and The Ministry of Land and Resources PRC, we’d like to extend the warmest welcome to distinguished guests and all the friends here!
In this May, China successfully held the “Belt and Road” Forum for International Cooperation. Over 140 countries and 80 international organizations actively supported and participated in the construction of the “Belt and Road”, mapping about plans for cooperation and development and achieving broad consensus. The “Belt and Road Initiative” put forward by president Xi Jinping has been turned from a concept to action, from a vision to reality, creating wider prospects for world economic growth and deepening international cooperation on mining industry.
Spanning thousands of miles, the ancient Silk Road acted as an important bridge for trade and culture exchanges between the east and the west. Along the ancient Silk Road, people realized the exchange of ceramics, Iron and bronze ware, jade and jewelry and other commodities and promoted the widespread dissemination of mining, metal smelting and other technologies Along the ancient Silk Road, people witnessed the free flow of capital, technology and personnel and sharing of commodities, resources and outcomes. The Silk Road spirit developed in the past hundreds of years is the valuable heritage and spiritual wealth of human civilization.
Mineral resources are the material basis for human development. The mining is an old but developing basic industry and minerals are staple commodities for international trade. Under the theme of "Promoting Mining Prosperity under the Silk Road Spirit", this Congress aimed to take the initiative to keep abreast of new developments and seize new opportunities in the global mining industry, pool together wisdom of the Silk Road and inherit the Silk Road traditions, lifting the global mining industry with a common destiny up to a new level.
Ladies, Gentlemen and Dear Friends,
At present, the world economy starts to recover and forge ahead. A new round of technological revolution and industrial transformation is gaining momentum and the wave of innovation and creation is on the rise. The International Monetary Fund predicted that the global economic growth in 2017 would reach 3.5%. Chinese economy, on the basis of a 6.9% growth in the first half of the year, maintained its momentum of steady and sound growth. From the second half of 2016, the total market capitalization of global mining companies has rebounded for five consecutive quarters, the mining activity index basically kept away from the sluggish fluctuation range and the bottoming rebounded to stabilize. However, the world economy has yet to get out of the adjustment period of sub-health and weak growth. Because of the adverse economic globalization, the prices of major mineral products are still hovering at a low level, and there is still a long way to recover global mining industry.
Faced with the complicated economic situation, we should draw lessons from history and sum up successful experiences of mining development; we must also look ahead to explore innovative ways to revive the mining industry. Throughout the long history of mining development, the spirit of the Silk Road centered on peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit is just the essence of the global mining industry's common prosperity.
Peace and cooperation are basic preconditions for the sustainable development of the mining industry. The ancient Silk Road can last for thousands of years, relying on camels and goodwill, relying on ships and friendship. It is the common interests of the global mining community to maintain a peaceful and stable international environment, seek honest and responsible strategic partners and establish an interconnected infrastructure and create ever-increasing market demands.
Openness and inclusiveness are common requirements for the shared development of the mining industry. On the ancient Silk Road, people from different regions, religions and ethnic groups seek common ground while reserving differences, develop together in the process of opening up and are inclusive to share resources. The mining industry chain has been deeply integrated into the process of global economic integration and shared weal and woe with developing the economy, increasing employment, eliminating poverty and improving people's livelihood. It is the common responsibility of the global mining community to create a more comprehensive and convenient pattern of opening up, build an inclusive mechanism of profit sharing of all parties and insist on resource conservation and environmental protection.
Mutual learning is an important driving force for the innovation and development of the mining industry. The ancient Silk Road is not only a road of commerce and trade, but also a road of knowledge exchange. The exchange of goods and knowledge has led to the renewal of ideas and the progress of science and technology and promoted the process of human civilization. Innovation is a core driving force for the sustainable development of the mining industry and is an inherent requirement of the transformation and upgrading of the mining industry. It is the common mission of the global mining community to seize the opportunities of technological revolution and industrial transformation, promote the innovation of mining theory, system, technology and equipment and inject new momentum into the development of the mining industry.
Mutual benefit is a right direction for the cooperation and development of the mining industry. From scratch, from the land to the sea, the ancient Silk Road broke through boundaries of regional resources, gave full play to the comparative advantages of various countries, and was pioneering a new way to the market-oriented allocation of mineral resources. Nowadays, with the economic globalization going into a greater depth, mutual benefit is an inevitable choice from the perspective of geosciences to the resource development and utilization. It is the common pursuit of the global mining community to exchange in honest, conduct practical cooperation, promote economic prosperity and enhance people's well-being.
Ladies, Gentlemen and Dear Friends,
As the largest mineral producer, consumer and trading nation in the world, China is pivotal to the global mining industry. In the previous year, the geological ore prospecting in China has made a great progress. More than 77 billion yuan has been invested in geological exploration; 36 kinds of major mineral reserves have been increased; 2 oil fields with oil reserves surpassing 100 million tons, 2 gas fields with gas reserves exceeding 100 billion cubic meters and 1 lead-zinc mine field with reserves exceeding 10 million tons have been newly found; accumulated proven reserves of shale gas has been up to 764.3 billion cubic meters, achieving annual production capacity of 10 billion cubic meters. Domestic mineral production began to rebound. The output of major mineral products increased at an accelerated pace. The output of standard coal was up to 3.46 billion tons, the output of iron ore was 1.28 billion tons and that of 10 non-ferrous metals was 52.83 million tons. The total profit of the mining industry in China increased 12.4 times over the same period of last year. The enterprise revenue increased markedly. Foreign trade in energy and minerals continued to grow. The growth rate of imports of crude oil and natural gas reached double digits, and the scale of foreign investment continued to expand, which not only firmly supported domestic economic growth, but also promoted the global economic and mining recovery.
In recent years, the mining industry in China has firmly established the development concept of innovation, coordination, greenness, openness and sharing, focusing on supply-side structural reform and giving priority to cutting over-capacity, cutting excess urban real estate inventory, deleveraging, reducing cost, strengthening areas of weakness, and steadily pushing forward the development of mining construction that is innovation-driven, reform-guiding, green and safe, inclusive and sharing, opening-up and mutual beneficial, which made an important contribution for the country to achieve historic transformation.
Development driven by innovation continues to deepen. We sounded the bugle of "marching into the deep earth", fully implemented the scientific innovation strategies of deep earth exploration, deep sea exploration and space-borne earth observation, and mastered strategic core technologies such as 10,000-meter drilling rigs and manned deep-dive. The trial production of natural gas hydrate in the sea completed successfully, realizing a complete independent innovation in the theory, technology, engineering and equipment of exploration and development and taking a crucial step to promote the commercial exploitation of natural gas hydrate and optimize the energy structure. The launching of international mega-science projects such as "Chemical Earth" and “Resource and Environment Effects of Global Karst Dynamo System" won extensive supports and positive responses from the international geosciences community. We also released more than 500 national and industrial standards for the implementation of geology and mineral resources, which actively promoted the classification of mineral resource reserves in China to well match with the UN classification framework of fossil energy and mineral resource reserves .
Development guided by reforms continues to speed up. We intensified reforms of streamlining administration in the mining area, delegating more powers, improving regulations and providing better services, giving full play to the decisive role of the market in allocating resources and playing a better role of government. The number of items which require the government review was cut by 56%, and the practice of non-administrative review was put a complete stop. We have revised and improved more than ten administrative laws, regulations and departmental rules on geological and mineral resources management and started the revision of the Mineral Resources Law. In addition, we deployed the pilot reform of the mining rights transfer system in six provinces (autonomous regions) to explore the implementation of competitive mining rights transfer. We also promoted the reform of the oil and gas system and give full play to the role of the market in such competitive aspects as oil and gas exploration and production, processing and product pricing, improving the efficiency of resource allocation. The reform of the system of mineral resources royalty was carried out, and a new system of mineral resources royalty was established, which was composed of gains from transferring mining rights, fee for occupying the mining rights and funds for restoration and rehabilitation of the mine geological environment.
Green and safety continues to be advanced. We practiced the concept of "Green hills and clear water are the gold and silver mines" to promote the formation of a green development mode and life style and properly handled the relationship between exploration and development of mineral resources and ecological protection to promote the sustainable development of the mining industry. In addition, we conducted investigation and clearance of mining rights within the nature reserve and made an orderly withdrawal of mining rights in the reserve. Green exploration was fully implemented, and its demonstration and promotion was strengthened from the system development, standard setting, technological innovation, equipment enhancement and other aspects. We acted up to the UN Convention on Mercury and stopped issuing new licenses for mercury exploration and mining. We also further promoted the conservation and efficient use of mineral resources, established and released recovery rate, ore dressing recovery rate and comprehensive utilization index of 33 major mining exploitation. Incentive policies were introduced to speed up the construction of green mines, and 661 national green mines were constructed. Besides, the central government invested 30 billion yuan of governance funds to establish responsibility mechanism of mine environmental governance and restoration, which attracted more than 60 billion yuan from finance of local administration and social capital, and significantly improved the industrialization, specialization and socialization of mine geological environment governance.
Inclusiveness and sharing continue to extend. Taking the opportunity of implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, we insisted on harmonization of economic, social and ecological benefits and made the development of the mining industry benefit more people. We developed and perfected the mechanism of ecological compensation, benefit-sharing and contradictions resolution in the exploitation and utilization of mineral resources so as to realize the development of mining enterprises, benefit the people in mining areas and keep a harmonious relationship between mines and land. We helped the poor and benefited the people by making use of resources and gave priority to carrying out geological surveys, mineral exploration and comprehensive development and utilization in poor areas. The implementation of groundwater exploration and water supply safety demonstration projects in poor areas solved the water shortage problem of more than 22 million people. We also encouraged mining enterprises to play an active role in fulfilling social responsibilities, strengthening safety in production and promoting local development.
Opening up and mutual benefit continue to expand. We unswervingly implemented the strategy of opening up and strove to establish an open mining system that is mutually beneficial, diverse and balanced as well as safe and efficient. We also introduced a series of specific measures to promote the growth of foreign investment and relaxed restrictions on foreign investment in exploration and exploitation of unconventional oil and gas and precious metals such as oil shale, oil sands and shale gas. International cooperation projects of oil and natural gas was changed from examining and approving system to filing system. The system of pre-establishment national treatment and negative inventory was fully implemented to enhance the transparency of policies and effectively protect the legitimate rights and interests of overseas investors. We also guided and standardized overseas investment by Chinese-funded enterprises and encouraged competent enterprises to participate in the exploration and development of overseas energy resources. In addition, we urged Chinese-funded mining companies abroad to comply with local laws, serve the community construction, pay attention to environmental protection and the demands of aboriginal people, and strive to make more contributions to the economic and social development in their host countries.
Ladies, Gentlemen and Dear Friends,
"The Belt and Road" construction is rooted in the Silk Road, which is on the basis of the continent of Asia and Europe while opening up to the world. " The Belt and Road" Forum for International Cooperation sent an invitation to the world to commit the principle of extensive consultation, joint contribution and shared benefits and jointly build a human community of a common destiny. Earlier this month, BRICS leaders met in Xiamen, once again emphasizing the BRICS spirit of openness, inclusiveness and win-win cooperation, which greatly helped promote world economic growth and achieve common development for all countries. The BRICS spirit and the spirit of the Silk Road are in the same strain, providing an important guide for the global mining governance.
We need to have close dialogues and exchanges with other countries and strengthen policy communications. We must deepen the cooperation among mining sectors in various countries, enhance the dialogue on mining policies, increase communications on the development strategy, and promote the signing and implementation of bilateral and multilateral cooperation framework agreements to provide policy supports for international mining cooperation. In term of geological surveys, resource reserves, green exploration, mining construction and other aspects, we also need to promote mutual understanding of standard specifications and coordinate to resolve major issues of common concern to improve the global mining governance system.
We must raise the level of opening up and optimize the investment environment. We need to grasp the development trend of economic globalization and regional economic integration scientifically, unswervingly follow the road of opening up and win-win cooperation and oppose any form of trade protectionism. In addition, we will also promote the liberalization of trade in mineral products, eliminate trade barriers, reduce transaction costs and optimize the business environment, creating an open and stable international mineral market. We need to facilitate mining investment, relax access conditions, protect property rights and deepen capacity cooperation to create a global mining industry chain with complementary superiority.
We need to promote innovation-driven development relying on scientific and technological progress. We must jointly build a multi-level and open innovation platform, develop the UNESCO International Center on Global-scale Geochemical, the International Research Center on Karst and the China-Shanghai Cooperation Organization's Geoscience Research Center, and prepare to set up the China-ASEAN Geoscience Cooperation Center to improve talents training and exchange mechanisms, promote the application of cutting-edge technologies such as Internet, Internet of Things, big data, cloud computing and artificial intelligence in the mining industry and create a policy environment and social atmosphere conducive to innovation and creation.
We must deepen practical cooperation, achieving mutual benefits. We will implement the "Belt and Road" basic geological survey and information service plan and deepen the cooperation in the geological survey conducted by countries along the Silk Road. We will also explore to establish cooperation mechanisms for resource exploration and development in line with the mining norms, market rules and international models, enhance the anti-risk ability of resource supply and establish a safe and efficient mineral resources guarantee system to promote the common interests of all countries in practical cooperation and share the fruits of development.
Ladies, Gentlemen and Dear Friends,
The convening of the 19th CPC National Congress will lift the socialism with Chinese characteristics up to a new level. China's Ministry of Land and Resources and people who devote themselves to the mining industry would like to play a constructive role in providing a Chinese solution for building a global mining community with a common destiny and share Chinese wisdom with others.
CHINA MINING Congress and Expo is in its 19th year and has become an important platform for advancing dialogues and practical cooperation in the international mining community. Internationalization, marketization and standardization are the development directions of the Congress in the new era. We will pool together the wisdom of all the people and strive to reform and innovate so as to further enhance the prospectiveness, practicability and service functions of the event.
Silk Road spirit, which lasts for thousands of years, has passed down from generation to generation. The global mining industry goes through ups and downs, keeping forging ahead. Standing at a new starting point, we must look ahead and work together to make a better future, and carry forward the spirit of Silk Road to usher in a new chapter for the prosperity of the mining industry.
I wish the event a complete success!
Thank you very much!
