Measures for the Administration of Mining Rights Owners' Exploration and Exploitation Information

Measures for the Administration of Mining Rights Owners' Exploration and Exploitation Information

(Issued by Order No. 3 of Natural Resources of the People's Republic of China on May 16, 2024, deliberated and adopted at the 2th executive meeting of the Natural Resources of the People's Republic of China on May 9, 2024, and will come into force on July 1, 2024)

Article 1 For the purposes of standardizing the interim and ex post regulation of exploration and exploitation activities, promoting the integrity and self-discipline of mining rights owners, and creating a market environment for fair competition, these Measures are developed in accordance with the Mineral Resources Law of the People's Republic of China, the Regulation on Optimizing the Business Environment, and other laws and regulations.
Article 2 These Measures shall apply to activities such as entering, publicity, verification and use of mining rights owners' exploration and exploitation information.
Article 3 Mining rights owners' exploration and exploitation information shall be managed under the principle of inclusiveness and prudence, and the legitimate rights and interests of mining rights owners shall be protected.
Article 4 The Ministry of Natural Resources is responsible for the administration of mining rights owners' exploration and exploitation information across the country, and organize the construction of the national management system for mining rights owners' exploration and exploitation information.
The competent departments of natural resources of the local people's governments at or above the county level are responsible for the administration of mining rights owners' exploration and exploitation information in their respective administrative regions.
Article 5 Under the principle of “who produces, who enters information,” mining rights owners' exploration and exploitation information shall be entered by mining rights owners and the competent departments of natural resources of the people's governments at or above the county level in the national management system for mining rights owners' exploration and exploitation information, and be publicized to the public in accordance with the provisions of these Measures.
Article 6 The following information is entered by the exploration right owner:
(1) The name and address of the entity undertaking the exploration work.
(2) The amount of funds invested in annual exploration, the number of major physical workloads completed such as exploration projects and sample analysis, and whether reports on exploration results have been prepared.
(3) The types and stages of exploration, and whether comprehensive exploration evaluation of co-associated minerals has been carried out.
(4) Whether the left well and cavern are filled in a timely manner after the completion of the exploration operation.
(5) Payment of relevant fees in accordance with the relevant provisions of laws and regulations on the administration of mineral resources.
(6) The performance of obligations for submitting geological data.
(7) The performance of other exploration obligations prescribed by laws and regulations.
Article 7 The following information is entered by the exploitation right owner:
(1) The status of the mine, the mineral species actually exploited and utilized, and whether the annual report on mine reserves is prepared, the basic statement of reserves statistics is submitted, the comprehensive utilization of mineral resources, the ecological restoration of the mine and other basic information.
(2) The mining recovery rate, mineral processing recovery rate, comprehensive utilization rate, amount of ore exploited, tailings, and utilization of waste rock and associated minerals.
(3) Payment of relevant fees in accordance with the relevant provisions of laws and regulations on the administration of mineral resources.
(4) The performance of obligations for submitting geological data.
(5) The performance of other exploitation obligations prescribed by laws and regulations.
Article 8 The competent departments of natural resources of the people's governments at or above the county level are responsible for entering the following information:
(1) The information on registration of new establishment, renewal, alteration (transfer), retention and cancellation of mining rights.
(2) The review (recordation) of mineral resources exploration implementation plans, development and utilization plans, mine geological environment protection and land reclamation plans and staged acceptance information.
(3) The review and recordation of mineral resources reserves.
(4) The information on the administrative penalties imposed upon mining rights owners for violating laws and regulations on the administration of mineral resources.
(5) Other information related to the exploration and exploitation status of mining rights owners.
Article 9 Mining rights owners shall enter the exploration and exploitation information for the previous year before March 31 of each year; however, except under the circumstance that the period from the date of establishing the mining rights in the previous year to the latest entering date does not exceed six months.
The competent departments of natural resources of the people's governments at or above the county level shall enter the exploration and exploitation information within 30 days from the date of information generation.
Article 10 Mining rights owners' exploration and exploitation information shall be entered and publicized in accordance with the provisions of the laws and administrative regulations on the protection of state secrets, commercial secrets, personal privacy and personal information.
Article 11 The competent departments of natural resources of the people's governments at or above the provincial level may, in accordance with the regulatory requirements of “dual random and public disclosure,” randomly select a certain proportion of exploration projects and mines, develop verification plans and organize verification of the publicity of mining rights owners' exploration and exploitation information.
Article 12 The competent departments of natural resources of the people's governments at or above the county level shall form a verification team to carry out the verification of the publicity information of mining rights owners. Where inspectors and objects under verification have a stake, they shall ......