Recently, the official website of the Jiangxi Provincial Development and Reform Commission reported that the new round of mineral exploration breakthrough strategy in Jiangxi Province has achieved remarkable success. From 2021 to 2024, Jiangxi discovered 153 new mineral deposits, increased by 32% year-on-year; 47 new strategic mineral deposits. Since 2021, Jiangxi's important minerals have added resources: 229,300 tons of tungsten, 163,000 tons of molybdenum, 10.631 million tons of manganese, 757,100 tons of copper, 7.32 tons of gold, 32,300 tons of tantalum-niobium, 41,300 tons of tin, and 8.5218 million tons of fluorite.
Notably, since the launch of the new round of mineral exploration breakthrough strategy, Jiangxi Wuning County's Caotougang mining area submitted 60,600 tons of tungsten resources, Fengxin County's Baiguo mining area submitted 478,100 tons of lithium resources, and Shicheng County's Zhashanli mining area added 1.001 million tons of fluorite resources.
High-Level Planning and Deployment
At the top-level design level, the Jiangxi Provincial Government Office issued the "Jiangxi Province Strategic Mineral Exploration Action Implementation Plan (2021–2035)," clearly defining 88 key survey areas and focus exploration areas, coordinating and planning the deployment of the new round of mineral exploration breakthrough strategy across the province. The Jiangxi Provincial Department of Natural Resources concurrently compiled the "Jiangxi Province Geological Survey Planning (2021–2025)," refining targets and tasks, and coordinating provincial geological survey, mineral exploration, and scientific innovation work. The Jiangxi Provincial Department of Finance has included geological exploration in the focus support scope of the provincial natural resource protection and utilization special funds, with cumulative investment of RMB 1.739 billion from 2021 to 2024, an average annual investment of RMB 435 million, increased by 12.22% compared to the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, providing stable financial assurance for exploration work.
Technology Empowerment to Break Bottlenecks
In the field of theoretical research, the Jiangxi Provincial Department of Science and Technology, in conjunction with the Jiangxi Provincial Bureau of Geology and Mineral Exploration, formulated a "Technology + Geology" action plan, implementing 10 provincial "Technology + Geology" joint plan projects to continuously strengthen metallogenic geological theory research. The Jiangxi Provincial Bureau of Geology and Mineral Exploration successfully led the application for 1 Deep Earth national major science and technology project and participated in 6 applications, participated in 5 national key R&D plan projects, undertook 18 provincial and ministerial key technology projects, 5 "Ganpo Talents Support Plan" projects, and 4 provincial natural science fund projects. Jiangxi Copper Group's Yongping Copper Mine, in cooperation with China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), conducted research on "Key Control Factors of Mineralization and Breakthrough Exploration in Deep Marginal Parts of Jiangxi Yongping Copper Mine," promoting deep exploration at Yongping Copper Mine.
In terms of technical equipment upgrades, most geological exploration teams are equipped with new tools such as handheld X-ray fluorescence spectrometers, handheld sampling drills, portable rapid analyzers, portable full-hydraulic drills, and modular drills, dramatically improving survey engineering efficiency and quality. To fully implement green exploration requirements, exploration units have innovated variously: for example, the First Geological Exploration Team of the Jiangxi Provincial Bureau of Geology and Mineral Exploration, in implementing the Gangkou lithium-niobium-tantalum mine survey project in Fengxin County, used satellite remote sensing, drone aerial survey, deep-penetration geochemical exploration, and three-dimensional geological modeling to precisely delineate target areas, reducing ground survey workload. The Seventh Geological Exploration Team of the Jiangxi Provincial Bureau of Geology and Mineral Exploration, in conducting rare earth exploration in the southern Jiangxi region, used drones for mapping and replaced traditional shallow wells and trenches with self-developed manual impact sampling drill (Gan'nan drill), effectively reducing damage to vegetation, soil, and site ecosystems.
Mechanism Innovation to Aggregate Forces
Market Mechanism Adds Vitality: In the Lengshuiyin Silver Ore Field in Guixi, the Tenth Geological Exploration Team of the Jiangxi Provincial Bureau of Geology and Mineral Exploration, leveraging its academician workstation and innovation team, applied theoretical achievements from "South China Ocean-Pacific Tectonic Evolution and Mineralization," conducting three-dimensional modeling and metallogenic prediction of the ore field, and for the first time in the Xiaobao silver-lead-zinc mine area, a single hole penetrated a multi-metal ore body with cumulative apparent thickness of 368.3 meters, while discovering a copper-gold ore body, revealing significant deep exploration potential; in Yongping Copper Mine, Jiangxi Copper Group, the Eighth Geological Team of the Jiangxi Provincial Bureau of Geology and Mineral Exploration, and China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) jointly conducted deep exploration technology research, first applying hyperspectral remote sensing technology to delineate deep molybdenum-bearing rock body alteration zones, and on the inner and outer contact zones of the Shizi Rock Body and metamorphic rock strata, discovered thick industrial molybdenum ore bodies over 70 meters and 110 meters, respectively, with average grades above 0.1%, expected to add molybdenum resources close to large-scale, providing an example for rejuvenating old mines.
Policy Support Promotes Breakthrough: The Jiangxi Provincial Department of Natural Resources successively issued the "Implementation Opinions on Further Strengthening the Full-Chain Management of Mineral Resources" and "Jiangxi Province Mining Rights Online Trading Rules," and in conjunction with the Jiangxi Provincial Department of Finance, formulated the "Jiangxi Province Non-Oil and Gas Mining Rights Transfer Bidding Starting Price Standard." At the same time, the province revised the baseline price for mining rights transfer benefits, further motivating local governments and mining rights holders to actively and proactively pursue mineral exploration breakthroughs and reserve increases, encouraging social capital participation in strategic mineral exploration and development. From 2021 to now, 221 mining rights have been publicly transferred, with transaction amount of RMB 20.5 billion, among which 58 strategic minerals, ranking among the top in central China for transfer quantity.
Source: China Mining News
