Guizhou set to enforce new mineral resources regulation on July 1

On July 1, the Guizhou Provincial Mineral Resources Regulation will officially take effect, marking China's first local supporting legislation following the enactment of the revised Mineral Resources Law of the People's Republic of China. The regulation represents a key step toward modernizing Guizhou's mineral resource governance system and capacity.

The new regulation contains eight chapters and 58 articles, covering the full cycle of mineral resource development – from prospecting and mining rights to ecological restoration, resource reserves, emergency response, and legal supervision. It fully aligns with the national law's provisions on mineral security, strategic resource management, and ecological rehabilitation, offering robust legal safeguards for safe, scientific, efficient, and green mining in Guizhou.

The regulation fully implements the provincial government's "Efficient Mining" strategy, focusing on managing the entire lifecycle of mineral resources with a framework built on four pillars: precise prospecting, targeted allocation, refined mining, and advanced utilization.

The regulation supports a new round of strategic mineral exploration, emphasizing geological surveys and assessments in key mineral zones. It promotes diversified investment and incentives, while utilizing digital technologies like big data, cloud computing, and AI to strengthen exploration capacity.

The regulation standardizes the competitive granting of mining rights and encourages the release of "ready-to-mine" sites. It aims to solve issues like "claiming without exploration" or "occupying without mining," thereby improving resource allocation efficiency.

It calls for industry-specific development plans, sets limits on extraction intensity, and encourages integrated development of advantageous mineral clusters. Unified development of single mineral bodies is supported to avoid inefficient small-scale mining. Companies are encouraged to cooperate with research institutions to optimize the use of high-grade resources and unlock the full potential of low-grade ores.

Governments at all levels are tasked with promoting the in-depth processing of key minerals such as coal, phosphate, aluminum, manganese, and fluorite. The aim is to foster integrated development across extraction, smelting, and processing, as well as to extend the value chain.

On the enforcement side, the regulation introduces dynamic monitoring of mineral reserves, mandates that related expenses be included in fiscal budgets, and enhances information-sharing across departments. Technologies like satellite remote sensing will be employed to build a smart supervision system for mineral resource development and utilization.

As Guizhou moves to implement the new regulation, it is positioning itself at the forefront of resource-rich provinces pursuing green, efficient, and innovation-driven development, offering a replicable model for the national modernization of mineral governance.

According to Zhou Hongwen, director of the Guizhou Provincial Department of Natural Resources, Guizhou is home to a rich variety of mineral reserves. Of the 137 types of minerals discovered in the province –  accounting for 79.19 percent of all known minerals in China –106 have verified substantial reserves. Thirteen of these, including phosphate and barite, rank first nationwide in terms of quantity of reserves. The minerals are primarily distributed along major transportation routes and the Wujiang River Basin, creating natural advantages for large-scale development.

Over the past decade, the mining sector has contributed around 45 percent to Guizhou's GDP, underscoring its role as a cornerstone of the province's economic and social development.