China to meet needs of private investment in mining by revising law

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, October 29, 2003

China to meet needs of private investment in mining by revising law

China can be expected to well safeguard the mining rights of private investors by revising the laws on exploration and exploitation of mineral resources, according to a ministry official.

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China can be expected to well safeguard the mining rights of private investors by revising the laws on exploration and exploitation of mineral resources, according to a ministry official.

At an ongoing international seminar on China's mineral resources being held in southwest China's mineral-rich Yunnan Province, both domestic and overseas experts appealed to the country to make the mineral rights more market-oriented.

The Mineral Resources Law has played an important role in safeguarding the state-owned rights to mineral resources, normalizing the activities of exploration and exploitation and promoting the protection and rational usage of the resources over the past 18 years, said Wei Tiejun, representative of the Department of Policy and Legislation of the Ministry of Land and Resources.

"However, China's mining industry still faces serious challenges, such as shortage of investment, as the law doesn't fully reflect the demands of the market," Wei said.

According to Peter Veen of the Mining Policy Division of the World Bank Group, the legal framework in this field has improved considerably but does not yet meet the needs of private investors.

The approval process was still complex and there lacks the certainty in the transition from exploration to exploitation permits, he said.

"The revision to the law can help resolve the problems," said Wei.

As a testing ground for the reform of mineral rights, Yunnan Province issued regulations on foreign-invested mineral exploration and mining.

According to the regulations, any foreign business shall be encouraged to solely invest in exploring and mining mineral resources, or work in association in the terms of joint funds or cooperation with other enterprises or economic entities, or investby adopting other legal means.

In addition, any foreign business has the mining rights of the proven mineral resources invested by itself after carrying out thelegal registration of mining mineral resources.

Statistics show that up to May 2003, the mining industry in China had totally absorbed foreign capital of eight billion US dollars with 4.5 billion of it on exploration and 3.3 billion for mining.

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