Natural Resources talked about the Notice
on Standardizing and Improving the Management of Sand and Stone Mining to further implement the relevant requirements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council and ensure the supply of sand and stone resources. Recently, the Ministry of Natural Resources issued the Notice on Standardizing and Improving the Management of Sandstone Mining (Natural Resources Development [2023] 57) (hereinafter referred to as the Notice). The reporter interviewed the head of the Mining Rights Management Department of the Ministry of Natural Resources on the relevant situation of the Notice.
1. Ask: What are the main considerations for issuing the Notice?
Answer: The Notice is a concrete measure taken by the Ministry to fully implement the requirements of the central deployment and support the construction of major infrastructure projects. At present, in accordance with the requirements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council to stabilize the economic situation and expand effective investment, all localities have accelerated the construction of major projects. As the most basic raw material for engineering construction, the guarantee of sand and gravel resources has become a major task for natural resources management departments at all levels on the way to build a new development pattern. Natural resources management departments should focus on market demand, take into account the requirements of resource guarantee, standardized development and ecological protection, and promote the high-quality development of sand and gravel resources. From the aspects of scientific planning, transfer of mining rights, green development and supervision after the event, the Notice guides the local government to enhance the market supply capacity of sand and gravel resources, supports the effective promotion of major infrastructure projects, and supports the acceleration of the construction of modern infrastructure system. At the same time, in view of the problems existing in the exploitation of sand and gravel resources, the relevant requirements for standardized management are further put forward.
2. Ask: How does the natural resources department guarantee the supply of sand and gravel market?
Answer: China has a vast territory, different regions have different resource endowments, different urban construction and development processes, and different supply and demand relationships in local sand and gravel markets. In addition to sand and gravel on land, some coastal areas also need sea sand resources for construction. Although some places have successively promoted the release of sand and gravel mining rights, there is still a big gap with the market demand, and the contradiction between supply and demand of sand and gravel in some areas is prominent. Natural resources management departments should focus on the balance of supply and demand, scientifically plan distribution of sand and gravel resources development, encourage conditional areas to organize the preparation of special plans for sand and gravel mineral resources, and coastal areas to make good plans for sea sand development in accordance with the needs of major projects. Taking into account the conditions of resource occurrence, various control requirements, supply and demand balance and other factors, we should delimit centralized sand and gravel mining areas or mining planning blocks to improve the scale and intensive level of sand and gravel mining. Consider the distribution and service life of existing sand and gravel resources mining rights as a whole, strengthen the analysis of sand and gravel market operation, reasonably determine the number and scale of sand and gravel resources mining rights to be set up in a certain period of time, and actively and orderly launch according to market demand.
3. Ask: What are the specific requirements for the active release of mining rights?
Answer: Sand and gravel mines have the characteristics of wide distribution, easy mining, fast production and short cycle, which can be quickly mined to form building materials such as sand and gravel aggregates to supply the market and alleviate the contradiction between supply and demand. In order to implement the spirit of the reform of "releasing control clothing" and ensure that the mining right holders complete other mining-related formalities in time after obtaining the mining right and start production smoothly, the Notice requires all localities to actively implement the transfer of "net ore" and do a good job in the early stage before the transfer, so as to prevent the emergence of prohibitive obstacles from government departments after the transfer of mining rights. At the same time, after the transfer, we should actively optimize the registration process of mining rights, simplify the registration requirements and improve the efficiency of registration services.
4. Ask: In addition to sand and gravel mining, what other policies support market supply?
Answer: The Notice has made supportive provisions on the comprehensive utilization of sand and stone materials produced in engineering construction and non-sand and stone mining. These sand and stone materials are different from mineral resources in the general sense. Because of the complex composition of impurities, they used to be solid wastes discarded by engineering. With the improvement of comprehensive utilization level and the change of market demand, some wastes in some places have certain market value, and enterprises can obtain certain benefits through comprehensive utilization, thus having the power of utilization, which should be encouraged from the perspective of ecological protection and resource utilization. Therefore, combined with the study of local management practice, we believe that on the one hand, enterprises should be allowed to use themselves, which not only reduces the cost of enterprises, but also reduces the problem of land occupation and environmental damage. On the other hand, the surplus sand and gravel should be integrated into the public resources trading platform by the government for disposal, which can not only avoid enterprises expanding mining for profit, but also maximize the utilization of resources and expand the supply of sand and gravel through the unified management of the government. The Notice stipulates that, first, it is clear that the sand and stone materials produced by the construction of the project can be directly used for the construction of the project without a mining license. Secondly, it is clear that the sand and gravel produced in the mining process of non-sand and gravel production mines should be given priority to the comprehensive utilization of mines. Thirdly, it is clear that the remaining part of sand and gravel produced in the process of engineering construction and mining of non-sand and gravel production mines shall be reported by the local competent department of natural resources to the people's government at the county level for disposal on the public resources trading platform. In addition, the sea sand produced by waterway dredging is also encouraged to enter the market for comprehensive utilization in accordance with the law and regulations.
5. Ask: What are the requirements of the Notice on green mining of sand and gravel mines?
Answer: Promoting the green development of mineral resources is an inevitable requirement for implementing Xi Jinping's ecological civilization thought and promoting the high-quality development of mining industry. Sand and gravel resources are all open-pit mining, which has an intuitive and obvious impact on the surface environment, and improper development and management will lead to environmental problems. The development and management concepts of green development, intensive exploitation and ecological restoration and the requirements of life cycle management need to be strengthened urgently. We should actively promote the construction of green sand and gravel mines, incorporate the requirements for the construction of green mines into the announcement of the transfer of mining rights, clarify the requirements for the establishment of green mines and the liability for breach of contract, and urge mines to carry out ecological protection and restoration throughout the whole process of mining activities.
6. Ask: There are a large number of sand and gravel mines in China, and illegal mining activities occur from time to time. What are the requirements of the Notice in terms of supervision and law enforcement?
Answer: Maintaining a good mining order is an important guarantee for promoting the green and sustainable development of the mining industry. Continuously strengthening and innovating the supervision of mineral resources development and utilization is an important measure to further improve the efficiency of government supervision and promote high-quality development. The Notice calls for the exploration and implementation of information-based supervision of land sand and gravel mines, such as electronic fences and unmanned aerial vehicles, so as to stop the discovery of illegal activities in a timely manner. Supervise mining rights holders to fulfill their legal obligations in accordance with the law and regulations, and seriously investigate and punish illegal and irregular activities such as unlicensed mining, cross-border mining and destructive mining, especially illegal mining activities in the name of various projects. For the exploitation of sea sand at sea, we should actively cooperate with the marine police department to strengthen the law enforcement and supervision of the exploitation of sea sand resources. Local governments are encouraged to strengthen coordination and information sharing among departments in accordance with the division of responsibilities, and to control the whole process of mining, transportation, sales and use.
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