The annual inspection of mineral resources exploration in 2014 reported by the Ministry of Land and Resources recently showed that the annual inspection authorities made full use of the online reporting system, and the annual inspection coverage increased year by year, with the annual inspection rate reaching 100 % in more than half of the provinces. The role of annual inspection and online reporting to supervise and standardize the exploration behavior is further demonstrated.

In 2014, there were 29,722 physical inspection and exploration projects nationwide, with an annual inspection rate of 94.9 % and a pass rate of 86.3 %. The results show that the vast majority of prospecting rights holders can better fulfill their legal obligations and carry out prospecting work according to law. The pass rate of Shanxi, Liaoning and other 10 provinces has reached more than 95 %. The Ministry of Land and Resources will explore the establishment of a public information system for the exploration of the integrity system of mineral rights holders, actively and prudently promote the reform of the annual inspection system, and better advance the various work of mineral exploration.

The annual inspection data show that the western region has become the "main battlefield" for mineral exploration in China. The number of exploration projects accounts for about two-thirds of the total number of projects in the country, and the area under exploration and the investment of exploration funds account for about 3/4 of the country s total. Gold, copper, coal, lead and iron are still key mineral species for exploration, accounting for two-thirds of the total number of prospecting projects, accounting for 72.7 % of the total area under investigation, and 73.3 % of the total investment. The total investment in national annual inspection and exploration projects was 3.08 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 11.9 %; The mineral exploration area was 588,500 square kilometers, a decrease of 2 % year-on-year. Analysis shows that, since 2013, due to the slowing of the macroeconomic growth rate, the weakening of mineral raw material demand and the decline of the mining boom index, China s overall mineral exploration work has been cooled, leading to an overall decline in various indicators.