Mineral resources are indispensable material resources for human survival, social development and civilization progress. Mineral resources are non-renewable material resources. How to ensure the need for mineral resources for national construction is a very important strategic issue. Therefore, in the 1980 s, from the first day I took up the post of national geological and mineral management, I began to study the national conditions of mineral resources. According to the research data of that year, China's mineral resources have the following main characteristics:

(I) our mineral resources are both more and less

According to the research data in the 1980 s, the first characteristic of China's mineral situation, that is, the most basic characteristic, is the "large resource country" calculated by the total amount and the "small resource country" calculated by per capita ". The potential value of proven reserves ranks third in the world (second only to the former Soviet Union and the United States). However, my country has a large population, but it is a "small resource country" per capita, and the amount of mineral resources per capita is only less than half of the world average.

(II) China's mineral resources are abundant and outstanding

Judging from the situation of the year, my country has many reserves, good prospecting prospects, good development and utilization conditions or fewer problems. The main ones that can be basically self-sufficient or even exported are coal, tungsten, molybdenum, niobium, titanium, mercury, tin, antimony, Rare earth, nickel, bauxite, marble, barite, gypsum, talc, sulfur, kaolin, and lead, zinc, phosphorus, etc. Among them, tungsten, antimony, coal, molybdenum, rare earth, lead, zinc and so on enjoy the world advantage. China's titanium, manganese, copper, cobalt, niobium, tantalum and other mineral reserves are rich, but because of its mineral quality, smelting performance, geographical location and other aspects are not ideal, its development and utilization are subject to some restrictions. Potash, chromite, diamond, platinum, trona and other proven reserves are seriously insufficient, and some of the development and utilization conditions are extremely poor and the prospect of prospecting is not clear, which belongs to the current short-term minerals in China.

(III) China's minerals are rich and poor, bulk minerals are more lean and less rich.

Among the existing minerals in my country, the ores in many mineral areas are rich ores with high grades, but there are also many mineral areas with low ore grades and are lean ores. Especially iron, copper, aluminum, lead, zinc and sulfur, phosphorus, potassium and other important minerals, its obvious weakness is more lean ore, rich ore less. 86% of China's iron ore reserves are lean ore. At present, the average grade of iron ore mined is only 30% ~ 35%, while the grade of ore deposits being mined in Australia, Brazil, India and Venezuela is generally above 65%. At present, China's beneficiation and metallurgy technology has not yet passed and difficult to develop and utilize the carbonate poor manganese ore accounted for half of the country's manganese ore reserves, rich ore is very few. Copper ore reserves with a copper grade greater than 1% are less than 30%, and only 6% with a grade of more than 2%. China's aluminum-silicon ratio of less than 7 bauxite accounted for more than 80%, 90% of the reserves are diaspore type, can be less open reserves. The reserves of phosphate rock containing 30% of phosphorus pentoxide are only 7%, and the average grade is only 17%. In addition to some modern salt lake brine, China's potash resources are mainly potassium-bearing rocks, which rarely meet industrial requirements.

(IV) China's mineral symbiosis, associated with more comprehensive ore, a single ore less.

The symbiosis of a variety of mineral resources often has a high comprehensive utilization value. This feature is particularly prominent in our country. China's special geological conditions, geological structure evolution is complex, resulting in a comprehensive mine is quite universal. The comprehensive iron ore containing rare earth, vanadium, tin, titanium and copper in the national iron ore reserves accounts for more than 1/4 of the total iron ore. 3/4 of silver ore and 2/5 of gold ore are associated ores. Tungsten and tin ores in the south are mostly associated with a variety of rare metals, bismuth and molybdenum, etc. Coal mines in Shanxi and southern Sichuan are closely intergrown with pyrite or bauxite, refractory clay and kaolin for ceramics. If all the associated components of the Dabaoshan polymetallic mine in Guangdong are recycled, its output value will reach more than 10 billion yuan. According to the statistics of some large mines, even according to the current production technology indicators, the potential resource value of the associated components of the mine has accounted for 35% to 40% of the total value.

(V) China's various types of mineral deposits are large and small, small and medium-sized mines, world-class large mines less.

China also has a number of large, extra-large deposits, some of which are world-class giant deposits. For example, the tungsten mine in Nanling area, the molybdenum mine in Henan and Shaanxi, the copper mine in Dexing, Jiangxi, the copper tungsten mine in Zhuxi and the copper tungsten mine in Dahutang, Wuning, the Jiaojia-style gold mine in Zhaoyuan, Shandong, the rare earth mine in Baiyun Obo, Inner Mongolia, some coal mines in the north, and a number of non-metallic minerals. The successful discovery and exploration of these large and medium-sized mines and many large and medium-sized deposits have created preconditions and provided a resource base for the construction of large and medium-sized mines.

But relatively speaking, my country's large and medium-sized mineral deposits are a minority after all. Among the more than 15000 mineral deposits that have been discovered, more than 70% are scattered small mines: the corners of some large and medium-sized mines are also scattered. Large and medium-sized mines are only 8% and 20%.

(VI) China's mineral resources are both widely distributed and regionally concentrated.

In general, the distribution of mineral resources in China is quite extensive. Many mineral resources have been discovered to varying degrees in various provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government). As far as precious and rare gold deposits are concerned, gold deposits have not been found in all provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government) except Shanghai. However, the distribution of many important minerals is extremely unbalanced, and the advantages of some regions are very prominent. For example, more than 50% of the iron ore is concentrated in Anben, Jidong and Panxi; 30% of the coal mines are concentrated in Shanxi Province; half of the tin mines are concentrated in Yunnan and Guangxi; 1/3 of the copper mines are concentrated in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River; more than 80% of the heavy rare earths are concentrated in Nanling area and so on.

Simply speaking, the six major characteristics of my country's mineral resources are: 1. The total amount of resources is large, and the per capita resources are small; 2. There are many small and medium-sized mines and few extra-large mines; 3. There are more lean mines and fewer rich mines; 4. There are more comprehensive mines and less single mines; 5. The resources are widely distributed and the reserves are concentrated; 6. The mineral varieties are complete and the resources are abundant and insufficient.

Proceeding from the national conditions of resources, my first suggestion to the central government is: "We must re-understand the concept of vast land and abundant resources". This point was formally put forward when reporting to the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee in 1991, and was affirmed by then General Secretary Comrade Jiang Zemin. He said: "We must re-understand the concept of China's vast territory and abundant resources, especially the low per capita level of resources, and we must have a clear understanding of the national conditions education in this area, starting from elementary school.

Proceeding from the national conditions of resources, I put forward the second proposal to the central government: "take resource conservation as a basic national policy and take the path of resource-saving development". This point has also been adopted by the central government. At the 1999 Central Symposium on Population, Resources and Environment, Comrade Jiang Zemin pointed out: "To promote the sustainable development of China's economy and society, it is necessary to control population growth, protect natural resources and maintain a good ecological environment while maintaining economic growth. This is a basic national policy based on China's national conditions and the strategic goal of long-term development". Zhu Rongji, then premier of the State Council, said in his speech at the Central Symposium on population, resources and environment in 2000: "family planning, environmental protection and rational use of resources are the basic national policies." In 2005, the Fifth Plenary Session of the 16th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China clearly pointed out in the "Proposals of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Formulating the Eleventh Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development": "We must take resource conservation as a basic national policy."

Starting from the national conditions of resources, I have repeatedly proposed to the central government to "establish a strategic reserve system of resources" since 1992 ". In 2004, I submitted "some suggestions on the construction of strategic oil reserves" to Vice Premier Huang Ju, Wu Yi and Zeng Peiyan, suggesting that the strategic oil reserves should implement three principles:

(I) achieve three goals

1. The need to ensure the sustainable development of the national economy;

2. providing resources guarantee for safeguarding national defense security;

3. To provide resources for stabilizing oil prices and stabilizing the market.

These are three tasks.

(II) oil reserves to meet three requirements

Continuity of supply;

2. Convenience of use;

3. Security of reserves.

(III) oil reserves to implement three combinations

1. The combination of physical reserves and resource reserves;

2. The combination of government reserves and enterprise reserves;

3. The inland reserve is combined with the coastal reserve.

Wu Yi, then Vice Premier of the State Council, immediately gave instructions to the Development and Reform Commission for reference. At present, oil reserves are basically being run along this line of thinking. □

(The author is the former Secretary-General of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and the former Minister of Geology and Mineral Resources)