Foreign investors are more than welcome to join hands with Chinese enterprises to explore minerals in China, Minister of Land and Resources Tian Fengshan said on Thursday at an international seminar on China's mining industry.
Tian said China is home to rich resources, and a number of overseas mining businesses are currently operating in Xi'an mainly in the fields of petroleum, natural gas, coal-bed gas, terrestrial heat, gold, diamond, copper, lead, zinc and stones.
The rising domestic demand means big market potential, Tian said, "and petroleum, ore of iron and copper are in bad need in particular."
However, he said, China's mining industry development should be coordinated with environmental protection, which seems to be the country's weakness. He hoped the foreign mining industry would help China in this arena.
Shou Jiahua, Tian's deputy, promised that in the next five to ten years, the ministry will improve the way China operates its mining industry, upgrade the investment environment, and do a better job in assessment of prospecting projects to meet the commitments China has made to the World Trade Organization.
She also said that the country will shift its base of mineral resources development to western region, which stores more than half of the country's total resources.
(Xinhua News Agency 09/21/2001)
