“Reform and opening up thrived China's mining industry.” At keynote session on the theme of CHINA MINING Conference & Exhibition, Chen Jinghe, chairman of China Zijin Mining Group, trenchantly pointed out the background and prospects of mining industry. Among participants,
Chinese mining giants including Zijin Mining Group, China Minmetals Corporation, China Molybdenum Co., Ltd., all considered their own experiences as the epitomes of the rapidly developing mining industry of China.
Chen Jinghe, Chairman of Zijin Mining Group
Theme Session on CHINA MINING 2018: New Pattern of Opening, New Model for Cooperation
The keynote session invited guests from 5 famous mining companies and institutions: heads of the 3 above mining companies, Greg Lilleyman the chief operating officer of Fortescue Metals Group Ltd., and Heinz Pley the global mining partner of the Boston Consulting Group. They all dissected China and international mining trends, investment layout and cooperation in depth with unique clairvoyance and rich experiences.
Being confident about the global mining prospect
The Hon. Zhong Ziran, director-general of China Geological Survey, also chairman of the keynote session,
Over the past 40 years of reform and opening up, China's mining industry has undergone earth-shaking changes and created numerous “mineral miracles”. The Hon. Zhong Ziran, director-general of China Geological Survey, also chairman of the keynote session, said that China's mining industry was experiencing profound changes. On the one hand, after the golden 10 years from 2003 to 2012, the global mining industry entered a stage of deep adjustment and differentiation; on the other hand, after 40 years of reform and opening up, the growth rate of China's economy has been adjusted from high speed to medium-high speed. The demand, scale, speed and structure of China’s mineral resources were going through profound changes. The mining industry also learned that mining is a cyclical industry full of ups and downs. Therefore, the trend of the next stage still remained to be explored.
Heinz Pley, Global Head of Mining - Partner and Managing Director at The Boston Consulting Group
"By 2030, China's share of global GDP will be comparable to those of the United States and the European Union. 40% of China's GDP will rely on raw materials, and 5% derive directly from metals and mining." Heinz Ply opined that China would continue to be an imperative driving force for demand growth in global metallic mineral products.
“Although China's current economic growth rate is slowing down and economic restructuring is accelerating, China's economic resilience and growth rate can still be expected.”Chen Jinghe estimated.
Jiao Jian, Vice General Manager, China Minmetals Corporation
Jiao Jian, vice general manager of China Minmetals Corporation, pointed out that other countries and regions especially those in Southeast and South Asia and Latin America also had huge growth potential. He said: "Who could have imagined the tremendous changes in China 30 years ago? And who can guarantee that 30 years later, India, Brazil, Russia, Vietnam, and Indonesia will not bring huge consumption to the mining industry like China did ? So we are still confident about the medium and long-term development prospect of the global mining industry."
Accurately positioning mining industry under new challenges
By far, the ecological civilization construction proposed by China has exerted a profound effect on mining investment and operations. Besides, the major changes in market demand and policy environment have prompted deep changes in the concept, investment and operation mode of China's mining industry.
How to fathom the fundamental changes in the external environment of the mining industry? Chen Jinghe explained: "The goal of meeting the people's growing needs for a better life manifests that mining development must achieve harmonious unification with the natural environment; and the emphases on safety, environmental protection and occupational health are the red line and bottom line for the survival and development of mining companies."
Meanwhile, the industry should also cope with the rising difficulty in mine development and the mounting production costs. Although automation, informatization and intelligence were the trend of the times, it was not easy for traditional enterprises to possess such modern conditions. Heinz Pley pointed out that challenges and opportunities coexisted. As the demand for natural resources changed, the mining industry should review and adjust its product mix, strive to increase productivity, and seize the next generation of digital opportunities; it could embark on “urban mining”, and achieve sustainable development through promoting the recycling of old materials.
Adhering to the major strategy of "going globally"
“Even China is a superpower in the consumption of global mineral products, it does not have much say in the pricing of mineral products, which is caused by less metal mineral resources being controlled by Chinese companies, low mine outputs but high mine costs, the low degrees of self-sufficiency of most of the mineral products which are less than 30% and the high dependence on overseas markets.” Chen Jinghe also indicated that a constellation of excellent large and super-large multinational mining companies were required to provide guarantees for China's economic growth.
Li Chaochun, Chairman of China Molybdenum Co., Ltd.
In the new era, large quantities of large-scale multinational enterprises with global competitiveness were not only the requirements, but the active choice of companies with ambitions and achievements. Although quite a few Chinese mining companies have basically acquired the strength to participate in international competition, what was still lacking was the experience of overseas operations that could only be obtained through practice. Li Chaochun, chairman of China Molybdenum Co., Ltd., the world's largest tungsten producer, gave the key words “pattern” and “cooperation” on the issue of how to “go globally”.
He said that mining is a quasi-investment and quasi-financial industry, and the histories of all mining giants were actually histories of mergers and acquisitions. There are many stakeholders in” going globally”. Among them, The opponents in one transaction may turn to be partners in new projects and investments in the future, which is also an interpretation of the new model. However, he reminded that we must always maintain a robust and healthy balance sheet. Only then would more and more financial institutions gravitate to cooperation. Also, we should exert different expertise of joint venture partners and invest in local trade unions and communities.
Clutching at opportunities in “The Belt and Road” initiative and achieving mutual benefits
“Since being proposed 5 years ago, ‘The Belt and Road’ initiative has been thoroughly put into practice, and brought new historic opportunities for mining development.” Jiao Jian stated, “The Belt and Road” construction promoted local economic development and thus increased the demand for mineral resources. When a large number of infrastructures such as transportation, ports, energy, electricity, communications, and optical cables are under construction, it is foreseeable that the initiative will further promote convergence and bring overall prosperity.”
Greg Lilleyman, Chief Operating Officer, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd.
Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (FMG). was the major supplier of iron ore in China. It was proven that the import and export of iron ore could impel the development of some crucial fields such as ports and transportation in the two countries. For example, the manufacturer of ore carrier demanded by FMG, which worth more than 40 million US dollars are from Fujian, China. Otherwise, China's growing demand for iron ore were met by Australia through efforts of FMG, and meanwhile local areas in Australia also benefit from investment for more than $2 billion in Western Australia's railway projects, the operation of special railway lines and other infrastructure. COO Greg Rileyman said that there were successful Chinese investments being injected into FMG and continuing to make a significant contribution to the economic development of the two countries. He also reminded that the cooperation was multilateral rather than bilateral. And both Chinese and Australian companies should realize the great potentials of Argentina and Ecuador. It could be seen that in the construction of “The Belt and Road” , horizontal international cooperation and vertical cooperation in the industrial chain were continuously deepening mutual benefit. (Qiao Siwei) (Translated by TLRHVC)
About CHINA MINING
Since first held in 1999, the scope and influence of CHINA MINING has grown rapidly year by year. As a global mining summit forum and exhibition, CHINA MINING Congress and Expo has become one of the world’s top mining events, and one of the world’s largest mining exploration, development and trading platforms, covering all aspects of the whole mining industry chain, including geological survey, exploration and development, mining rights trading, mining investment and financing, smelting and processing, mining techniques and equipment, mining services, etc. playing an active promotion role in creating exchange opportunities and enhancing mutual cooperation between domestic and foreign mining enterprises.
CHINA MINING Conference and Exhibition 2018 Was held at Meijiang Convention and Exhibition Center in Tianjin in October 18-20, 2018. We invite you to join the event and to celebrate the 20th anniversary of CHINA MINING with us. For more information about CHINA MINING 2018, please visit: www.chinaminingtj.org.
