Beef up mining efforts: Report
China should step up efforts to mine its mineral and natural resources to meet the growing demand in light of plunging investment caused by the economic slowdown this year, the China Geological Survey (CGS) said in a report yesterday.
"With the global financial crisis, most companies are becoming cautious of investing in the sector, but with domestic demand increasing in the long term, we are under great pressure this year," Wang Min, vice-minister of land and resources, told a national geological survey conference in Beijing yesterday.
With the price of iron ore plunging by one-quarter over last year, most mining companies are cutting their budgets for mine exploration, Xu Hanjing, executive director of China business development with Sino Gold Mining Ltd, told China Daily yesterday.