Background

On November 8, 2024, the 12th Session of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress deliberated and adopted the Amendment Draft of the Mineral Resources Law of the People's Republic of China, which came into force on July 1, 2025. This is the first major revision of the Mineral Resources Law since its promulgation and implementation in 1986, and also a crucial milestone in the construction of China's mining legal system. It is of great significance for safeguarding national mineral resources security and promoting the high-quality development of the mining industry.

This amendment adds a new chapter titled "Mineral Resources Reserve and Emergency Response", establishes a reserve system for strategic mineral resources, clarifies the legal status of reserves, and emphasizes international cooperation to ensure resource security. The transfer of mining rights is mainly conducted through competitive methods such as public bidding, auctions, and listings, promoting market-oriented allocation and improving the level of resource utilization and protection. The separation of real right registration from exploration and mining permits protects the real rights of mining right holders and prevents infringement by administrative powers. The "direct connection" system for exploration and mining rights encourages exploration, protects the rights and interests of exploration right holders, and clarifies that exploration right holders may obtain mining rights after proving reserves. Additionally, the new law introduces important provisions on protecting the legitimate rights and interests of mining right holders, regulating mining land use, and improving mine ecological restoration, providing a more comprehensive legal guarantee for the development of the mining industry. However, no legislative amendment can be flawless, and this revision of the Mineral Resources Law also has some deficiencies.

01、Comparison Between the Old and New Mineral Resources Laws

(I) Strengthening of Legislative Objectives and Principles

Although the old law also emphasized the protection and rational development of mineral resources, its wording was relatively general. The new law prioritizes safeguarding national mineral resources security, explicitly incorporating it into the legislative objectives, and establishes "implementing the overall national security concept and balancing development and security" as the fundamental principle for the development, utilization, and protection of mineral resources. This change reflects the state's high attention to the strategic position of mineral resources and provides a clearer direction for subsequent institutional design and management measures.

(II) Reform of the Mining Right Transfer System

The old law adopted an application-approval system for exploration and mining rights, which gradually revealed drawbacks under the market economy, such as low efficiency in resource allocation and significant room for rent-seeking. The new law fully promotes the transfer of mining rights through competitive methods, mainly public bidding, auctions, and listings. This reform gives full play to the decisive role of the market in resource allocation, making the acquisition of mining rights more fair, just, and transparent. At the same time, the new law also stipulates exceptions for special cases such as agreement-based transfers, enhancing the flexibility of the system.

(III) Separation of Real Right Registration from Exploration and Mining Permits

Under the old law system, exploration permits and mining permits served both as real right certificates and administrative licensing certificates. This "one certificate bearing two rights" model made it easy for mineral administrative authorities to infringe on the real rights of mining right holders through administrative power. The new law implements a system that separates the registration of mining right real rights from the licensing of mineral resource exploration and mining activities, clearly defining the different legal attributes of mining right certificates (as real right certificates) and exploration/mining permits (as administrative licensing certificates), thus providing stronger protection for the real rights of mining right holders.

(IV) Establishment of the "Direct Connection" System for Exploration and Mining Rights

Under the old law, exploration right holders had the priority to obtain mining rights for mineral resources within their exploration areas, but the provision on priority was ambiguous in practice, leading to uncertainties for exploration right holders when converting to mining rights. The new law introduces the "direct connection" system, clarifying that exploration right holders have the right to explore relevant mineral resources and legally obtain mining rights within their registered exploration areas. Once exploitable mineral reserves are proven, they can apply to convert their exploration rights to mining rights within the term of the exploration right. This system increases certainty, simplifies the conversion process, and encourages investment in exploration.

(V) Enhanced Protection of the Legitimate Rights and Interests of Mining Right Holders

The old law had shortcomings in protecting the legitimate rights and interests of mining right holders, with differences in legal status and rights protection among mining enterprises of different ownership types. The new law implements the principle of equal protection of real rights stipulated in the Civil Code, eliminating differential treatment between state-owned, collective, and individual mining enterprises. Meanwhile, it establishes a compensation system for the withdrawal of mining rights, extends the term of exploration rights, and entitles mining right holders to priority in obtaining newly discovered mineral resources, comprehensively strengthening the protection of their legitimate rights and interests.

(VI) Specialized Provisions on Mining Land Use

The old law did not include specialized provisions on the acquisition of mining land, leading to widespread problems in practice where "mining operations are legal but land use is illegal", which seriously hindered the healthy development of mining enterprises. The new law includes specialized provisions on mining land use for the first time, incorporating the guarantee of land demand for mineral resource exploration and mining into the key content of territorial spatial planning, and making special arrangements for land use in the exploitation of strategic mineral resources, thus providing a legal basis for solving mining land-related problems.

02、Deficiencies in This Amendment

(I) Lack of Application Principles for Unassigned Mining Right Areas

The new law lacks clear provisions allowing enterprises to apply independently and follow the "first-come, first-served" principle for unassigned mining right areas where the state has not conducted public bidding or auctions. Currently, the transfer of mining rights mainly relies on competitive methods such as bidding, auctions, and listings, which plays a positive role in promoting fair market competition and improving resource allocation efficiency. However, not all mineral resource areas are suitable for transfer through competitive methods. In areas with no prior mineral exploration or areas where preliminary exploration has not identified sites for further exploration, mandating competitive transfers may increase enterprises' upfront investment costs and uncertainties, dampening their enthusiasm for participating in exploration. Allowing independent applications under the "first-come, first-served" principle would fully mobilize the enthusiasm of market entities, improve exploration efficiency, and accelerate the discovery and development of mineral resources. This principle was reflected in previous administrative regulations on mining right transfers but was not continued or clarified in the new law, which is undoubtedly a major deficiency.

(II) Confusion Arising from the Separation of Exploration/Mining Right Titles from Exploration/Mining Permits

Although the separation of mining right real right registration from exploration/mining licensing in the new law is theoretically advanced—aimed at better protecting the real rights of mining right holders and avoiding improper interference by administrative power—it may cause confusion and uncertainty in practice. On one hand, mining right holders need to deal with two sets of certificates and management procedures of different natures, increasing their compliance costs and management difficulties. For example, when handling relevant procedures, they may need to coordinate with multiple departments and go through different approval processes, which undoubtedly reduces operational efficiency. On the other hand, ambiguities may arise in title disputes and application of law. When issues such as the transfer, mortgage, or inheritance of mining rights are involved, the new law fails to provide clear guidance on how to define the relationship between real rights and administrative licensing, or how to resolve conflicts between them, which may lead to disputes and inconsistencies in judicial practice.

(III) Lack of Provisions on Free Public Disclosure of Geological Data

Geological data are crucial basic information for mineral resource exploration and development, and are of great significance for promoting geological scientific research, improving exploration efficiency, and safeguarding national resource security. Although the new law emphasizes strengthening basic geological surveys and increasing support for domestic mineral resource exploration and development, it does not clearly stipulate the free public disclosure of geological data. In the information age, the sharing and disclosure of geological data are essential for promoting industrial innovation and wide social participation. The lack of clear disclosure provisions may restrict access to geological data, affect the enthusiasm and innovation capacity of market entities, and hinder public supervision over the development and utilization of mineral resources.

(IV) Insufficient Strength of Provisions on Minimum Exploration Investment

Although the new law's provisions on minimum exploration investment help regulate the exploration behavior of mining right holders to a certain extent, their strength is still insufficient. Current provisions cannot effectively ensure that mining right holders fulfill their exploration obligations, nor can they fundamentally eliminate the phenomenon of "holding mining rights without conducting exploration". Some mining right holders may reduce costs by failing to make the required full investment in exploration after obtaining exploration rights, resulting in idle and wasted resources. This not only violates the original intention of the Mineral Resources Law to promote the rational development and utilization of resources but also affects the overall efficiency and quality of China's mineral resource exploration and development. To strengthen supervision over minimum exploration investment, further detailed provisions, clear penalty measures, and supervision mechanisms are needed to increase the cost of non-compliance.

(V) Ambiguity in the Mine Ecological Restoration Fund System

The ecological restoration fund system is an important means to ensure that mining enterprises fulfill their ecological restoration obligations. However, the new law's provisions on ecological restoration funds are not clear, especially regarding the definition of the subject responsible for ecological restoration. In practice, there is no clear definition of whether the responsibility for ecological restoration lies with enterprises or the government, which may lead to problems such as shirking of responsibilities and insufficient funding in ecological restoration work. Clarifying the responsible subjects and related obligations, and establishing a sound mechanism for the collection, use, and supervision of ecological restoration funds are crucial for strengthening ecological protection in mining areas and promoting the sustainable development of the mining industry. Otherwise, enterprises may ignore their ecological restoration obligations in pursuit of short-term interests, or the government may bear unreasonably heavy responsibilities in ecological restoration.

The newly revised Mineral Resources Law has made significant progress in many aspects, providing a more comprehensive legal framework for the exploration, development, and protection of China's mineral resources. It plays an important positive role in safeguarding national mineral resources security and promoting the high-quality development of the mining industry. However, like any legislative amendment, this revision also has areas that need further improvement. To address the above deficiencies, it is recommended that in the subsequent formulation of laws and regulations and the improvement of implementation rules, full consideration be given to practical operational issues, opinions from all parties be widely solicited, and relevant provisions be further detailed and clarified to enhance the operability and effectiveness of the law. Only by continuously improving the mineral resources legal system can we balance national resource security with resource development and environmental protection, and achieve the organic unity of economic development and social equity.

(Thanks to my colleague, Lawyer Huang Guoneng, for the review.)