Minister Xu Shaoshi gives a speech at the Opening Ceremony of CHINA MINING 2011

Minister Xu Shaoshi gives a speech at the Opening Ceremony of CHINA MINING 2011
Source: Portal Website of Ministry of Land and Resources    Citation: Portal Website of Ministry of Land and Resources    Date: November 6, 2011

Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends, CHINA MINING 2011 grandly opens today. On behalf of the Organizing Committee and the Ministry of Land and Resources of the People’s Republic of China, I convey sincere welcome to all delegates, and high respect and best wishes to all delegation leaders! The Chinese government highly values this event as it is an important platform for international mining exchange and cooperation. A leader from the State Council of China has sent a congratulatory letter to express congratulations to the congress and good wishes from the Chinese government for promotion of mining cooperation and development. Ladies and gentlemen, one year ago, we grandly convened here to jointly explore development strategies of the international mining industry with cooperation, responsibility and development as the theme. Over the past year, through joint efforts of all the colleagues under the guidance of the theme, we are glad to see that many of the cooperation projects have resulted in fruitful achievements. Besides, we have displayed higher value while assuming more responsibilities, coping with the international financial crisis and promoting the world economic recovery, which definitely will go down in history as common spiritual wealth of the international mining industry. The impact of the international financial crisis currently still continues, and the world economic recovery is slowing down. Unstable and uncertain factors have obviously increased. At this critical moment, the colleagues from the international mining circles are even more required to keep intensifying the exchange and cooperation to live through the hardships together, and actively speed up the prospecting breakthrough to light up our confidence. This congress is themed with Strengthen International Cooperation, Accelerate Geological Exploration & Mine Development, which is very target-oriented and realistic. I believe that all the delegates will surely carry out profound exchange and active cooperation during activities like forum discussion and project negotiation by firmly sticking to the congress theme, and make constant efforts to promote the international mining development and uphold the world economic recovery. Ladies and gentlemen, this year is the first year that China launches the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” on economic and social development. The “Twelfth Five-Year” is a crucial period for China’s across-the-board construction of well-off society, and also a hard-battle period for intensification of reform and opening-up and acceleration of economic development mode transformation. China’s mining industry is confronted with not only new development opportunities, but also more severe challenges. We are clearly aware that the synchronous fast development of industrialization, urbanization and agricultural modernization definitely is bound to facilitate the rise in rigid demand for mineral resources with the restriction from resources and environment further standing out. We must actively cope with the issue by taking multiple measures and strive to enhance the guarantee capacity of mineral resources for economic and social development. 1. Sticking to the strategy of giving priority to conservation and facilitating sustainable economic and social development through sustainable utilization of resources. We should actively implement the strategy of giving priority to conservation proposed by the “12th Five-Year Plan”, carry out control over overall resource utilization, supply-demand two-way regulation and differentiated administration, and vigorously improve the efficiency of energy resource utilization. Besides, we should actively push forward conservation and comprehensive utilization of mineral resources, implement demonstration projects on conservation and comprehensive utilization of mineral resources with focus on enterprises, actively promote high technologies on conservation and comprehensive utilization and cultivate a batch of demonstration bases for comprehensive resource utilization to continuously improve comprehensive exploration, appraisal and utilization of mineral resources, and facilitate the economic development mode transformation by improving resource utilization efficiency. 2. Implementing the prospecting breakthrough strategy and enhancing resource guarantee capacity based on domestic reality. We will strive to implement the prospecting breakthrough strategy, increase efforts in basic geological survey and exploration of major minerals, achieve breakthroughs in promising prospecting areas of major oil-gas bearing basins and key mineralization zones and set up a number of important resource succession areas to provide favorable resource guarantee and industrial support for steady and relatively fast economic development. Moreover, we expect foreign mining enterprises to invest in China’s mining industry, and at the same time we encourage competent Chinese mining enterprises to actively engage in international cooperation on mineral resources. 3. Increasing efforts in system innovation and taking full advantage of fundamental role of market in allocating resources. We will accelerate the improvement of system and mechanism, properly handle beneficial relations between the central government and the local government, and the government and the market, stick to integration of market regulation and government guidance, and take full advantage of fundamental role of market in allocating resources. We will also push forward the new geological prospecting mechanism across the board, which is prioritized public interest, business follow-up, fund link-up, assembled exploration and rapid breakthrough, strive to establish a market-oriented system platform and fully mobilize the initiative of all parties to further attract social funds into commercial mineral exploration and exploitation. Furthermore, we will vigorously advance technological innovation and strengthen technological support and progress to promote geological prospecting development. 4. Keeping balance between resource development and environmental protection and promoting the green, low-carbon and sustainable development of China’s mining industry. Under the principle of integrating quantity, quality and ecology in an organic manner, we will enhance the administration and preserve the order of mineral resource exploration and exploitation. By sticking to balance between development and protection, we will upgrade the mining access level for eco-environmental fragile areas in terms of policy, funds and technology, vigorously develop green mines and strengthen mine geological environment protection and restoration management to enable mutual promotion and cooperation between mineral exploration and exploitation and environmental protection and make the mining development benefit the local people in a tangible manner. Ladies and gentlemen, the world’s population has gone beyond 7 billion. How to make the limited mineral resources on the earth support and guarantee sustainable development of human society, not only satisfying needs of the contemporary people, but also leaving behind living and development space for our offspring, it is not only a question requiring each one of us on this planet to seriously think about, but also a task requiring mining colleagues to be duty-bound to assume and work on. The imbalanced distribution of the world’s mineral resources determines that no country can possibly achieve self development by relying completely on its own resources; instead, all the countries are required to fulfill reasonable allocation of resource elements around the world. It also determines that our mining colleagues must comply with welfare of all mankind while ensuring self interest, and pursue further development in the process of promoting development and prosperity of the world’s mining industry. There is an important symbol in Chinese culture which is “HE” (meaning harmony in Chinese). “HE” leads to symbiosis, and difference, which should also be the value for mining colleagues to carry forward. Promoting the realization of win-win cooperation and harmonious development of the international mining industry, and even the global economy, is not only an eternal theme of the international mining development, but also the value of establishing and holding the China Mining. Therefore, I propose that we join hands together to expand exchange, form consensus, enhance cooperation and strive for establishing an environment-friendly, innovation-driven, inclusive and harmonious new international mining order. I deeply believe that the world’s mining development will surely usher in a better future through joint efforts of all of us. Finally, congratulations in advance to a complete success of CHINA MINING2011. Wish all the delegates smooth work and good health. Thank you all.