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The "Regulations on the Implementation of the Mineral Resources Law" came into effect on June 15: What are the new changes in mining rights, ecological restoration and reserve emergency response?
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Article author：Yingting Lawyers Group | Update time：2026-05-27 | Reading times：184
On May 15, 2026, the State Council announced the "Regulations on the Implementation of the Mineral Resources Law of the People's Republic of China", which will come into effect on June 15, 2026. This Regulation is an important supporting provision to coordinate with the implementation of the newly revised Mineral Resources Law. Its core task is to further refine the principles and requirements in the law into operable institutional arrangements, focusing on serving the high-quality development of the mining industry, the security of national mineral resources, and the construction of ecological civilization.
After summary and analysis by lawyer Ying Ting, the "Regulations" further improves the systems of mining rights, exploration and mining, clarifies the requirements for the grant, renewal, transfer and management of mining rights, strengthens territorial spatial planning constraints and mining land protection, and promotes the improvement of recovery rate, mineral processing recovery rate and comprehensive utilization rate. For strategic mineral resources, the rules for priority transfer, agreement transfer, and direct grant of mining rights under special circumstances have also been refined to further enhance system execution.
In terms of ecological restoration and resource security, the "Regulations" clarify that the mining right holder is the person responsible for ecological restoration of the mining area, and the restoration fees are extracted annually, and the restoration support mechanism for abandoned mining areas left behind by history is improved. At the same time, the regulations detail strategic mineral resource reserves, production capacity reserves, production area reserves and emergency response, promoting the formation of a more complete security system. For enterprises and localities, the follow-up focus should be on the connection of supporting systems and compliance adjustments.
Answer:The exploration and development of mineral resources is related to the national economy, people's livelihood and national security. The Party Central Committee and the State Council attach great importance to the development, utilization and safety of mineral resources. General Secretary Xi Jinping has issued important instructions on many occasions on improving the level of development and protection of mineral resources. On November 8, 2024, the 12th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress revised and passed the Mineral Resources Law of the People's Republic of China (hereinafter referred to as the Mineral Resources Law), which will come into effect on July 1, 2025. This revision is the first comprehensive revision of the Mineral Resources Law in more than 30 years since its implementation. It has made many innovative provisions in terms of mining rights, mineral resource exploration and mining management, ecological restoration of mining areas, mineral resource reserves and emergency response, etc. It provides a strong legal guarantee for promoting high-quality development of the mining industry in the new era, ensuring the security of national mineral resources, and promoting the construction of ecological civilization. In order to ensure the effective implementation of the Mineral Resources Law, further refine and improve the relevant institutional measures stipulated in the law, and enhance the operability of the system, it is necessary to formulate the "Regulations" and build a supporting and connected mineral resources legal system.
Answer:The "Regulations" were formulated to adhere to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, to fully implement the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important instructions and the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council. The overall approach mainly grasps the following three points: First, adhere to the goal orientation and problem orientation, coordinate development and security, improve the overall chain coordination and connection system for the exploration, supply, storage and marketing of strategic mineral resources, and strive to further provide legal protection for promoting high-quality development of the mining industry and ensuring the security of national mineral resources. The second is to accurately grasp the legislative positioning, strictly implement the Mineral Resources Law, and make clear provisions on institutional measures that need to be refined and improved at the administrative and regulatory level. The third is to strengthen institutional integration, coordinate and integrate multiple supporting administrative regulations of the Raw Mineral Resources Law, and enhance the integrity and synergy of the mineral resources legal system.
Answer:Mining rights are the basic system established by the Mineral Resources Law. The Regulations further improve the mining rights system from four aspects. The first is to improve the establishment method of mining rights, clarifying the specific circumstances under which mining rights can be transferred first through bidding and through agreement, and stipulates that if it is urgent to exploit strategic mineral resources to ensure the security of national mineral resources, mining rights can be directly granted with the consent of the State Council. The second is to strengthen the transfer of mining rights, clarifying the division of mining rights transfer authority, stipulating that the transfer of exploration rights and mining rights of the same mineral type shall be managed at the same level; requiring the mining rights transfer department to ensure that the area to be transferred complies with the national spatial planning control requirements; clarifying the incentives for units and individuals that provide exploration rights blocks and the specific circumstances of reducing or exempting mining rights transfer income. The third is to improve the mining rights renewal system, clarifying the procedures for renewing mining rights and the specific requirements for reducing the area of exploration areas when renewing exploration rights. The fourth is to strengthen the management of mining rights transfers, clarify the specific circumstances under which mining rights cannot be transferred, and require the transferee of mining rights to have corresponding technical capabilities and other conditions.
Answer:There are five main aspects: First, it stipulates the establishment and improvement of basic geological survey technical standards and normative systems, strengthens quality supervision of survey results, and uniformly releases survey results information. The second is to clarify the procedures for applying for exploration licenses and mining licenses and the relevant requirements for preparing exploration plans and mining plans. The third is to further strengthen the protection of mining land and clarify the specific scope of land for mineral resource exploration and development; the use of state-owned land and collective commercial construction land for mining mineral resources can be transferred through agreements; the temporary use of land for open-pit mining of strategic mineral resources should be approved in zoning and phases; the people's government at or above the county level should ensure the reasonable needs of land for mineral resource exploration and development in accordance with the law. The fourth is to stipulate the formulation of relevant national standards for mineral resource mining recovery rate, mineral processing recovery rate, and comprehensive utilization rate; strengthen the promotion and application of advanced applicable technologies, processes, and equipment for comprehensive mining and comprehensive utilization of mineral resources, and promote the industrial development of comprehensive utilization of mineral resources. Fifth, it stipulates that the state regularly organizes mineral resource potential evaluation and development and utilization status surveys, clarifies the content that mineral resource reserve reports should include and its legal validity, and requires mining rights holders to carry out mineral resource reserve monitoring in accordance with regulations.
Answer:The revised Mineral Resources Law has a special chapter on "Ecological Restoration of Mining Areas", establishing an institutional framework for ecological restoration of mining areas. The "Regulations" further elaborates on this, mainly including: It is clarified that the mining right holder is the person responsible for the ecological restoration of the mining area, and the mining right holder shall coordinate the implementation of ecological restoration and pollution prevention and control of the mining area. The person responsible for the ecological restoration of abandoned mining areas left over from history shall be determined by the natural resources department of the local people's government at or above the county level. It is recognized that relevant departments of the State Council can formulate special policies to support the ecological restoration of abandoned mining areas left over from history; the content of the ecological restoration plan for mining areas is clarified, including target tasks, project layout, technical measures, timing arrangements, budget estimates, safeguard measures, etc.; the completion time limit and acceptance procedures for ecological restoration of mining areas are clarified. At the same time, it is stipulated that the ecological restoration costs of mining areas shall be withdrawn by the mining right holder on an annual basis. Unless otherwise provided by law, the ecological restoration costs of mining areas shall not be seized, frozen or allocated.
Answer:Mineral resource reserves and emergency response systems are crucial to ensuring the security of national mineral resources. The Mineral Resources Law stipulates the state's construction of a strategic mineral resource reserve system that combines product reserves, production capacity reserves, and origin reserves, as well as mineral resource emergencies. The Regulations further refine and improve this in many aspects. First, it stipulates that the state builds a strategic mineral resource reserve system in accordance with the principles of government leadership, social co-construction, diversified complementarity, and efficient coordination. It also provides for the continuous improvement of the comprehensive effectiveness of strategic mineral resource reserves in terms of improving the supervision system, accelerating facility construction, improving the professional level of operating entities, and strengthening information construction. The second is to further refine the relevant systems for strategic mineral resource product reserves, production capacity reserves and origin reserves in terms of clarifying department responsibilities, mining rights holders' responsibilities, and related work requirements. The third is to improve emergency response measures when mineral resources emergencies occur, including directly organizing the mining, processing, transportation, and supply of mineral resources, requisitioning relevant mineral products, mineral product reserve facilities, and transportation tools, and organizing and implementing the supply of mineral resources or mineral products in accordance with the order of supply guarantee.
Answer:Before the revision of the Mineral Resources Law, the State Council promulgated six supporting administrative regulations, including the "Interim Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Mineral Resources", "Regulations on the Collection and Management of Mineral Resources Compensation Fees", "Detailed Implementation Rules of the Mineral Resources Law of the People's Republic of China", "Measures for the Registration and Management of Mineral Resources Exploration Blocks", "Measures for the Registration and Management of Mineral Resources Exploitation", and "Measures for the Management of Transfer of Exploration and Mining Rights". Some of the contents of the above-mentioned administrative regulations have been absorbed or replaced by the revised Mineral Resources Law, and some are no longer consistent with the revised Mineral Resources Law. In order to strengthen institutional integration and enhance the integrity and synergy of the mineral resources legal system, the "Regulations" have made overall arrangements and integration of the content that needs to be retained in the above-mentioned administrative regulations. When the Regulations come into effect, these six administrative regulations will be abolished at the same time.
Answer:In order to ensure the implementation of the Regulations, relevant parties will promptly carry out work in the following aspects. The first is to increase publicity and interpretation. Various methods will be adopted to publicize, interpret and provide training guidance for the Regulations, to help staff of relevant departments and the general public better understand the contents of the Regulations, and to ensure that the Regulations are accurately understood and strictly implemented. The second is to speed up the improvement of supporting systems. Relevant departments of the State Council and local people's governments will do a good job in sorting out relevant regulations and documents to ensure the orderly connection of various systems and measures. The third is to strengthen overall planning and coordination. The relevant competent departments of the State Council must effectively strengthen the organization, implementation, supervision and management, the local people's governments must coordinate the specific implementation work, and the relevant departments must strengthen coordination and cooperation according to the division of responsibilities, form a joint force, and ensure the effective implementation of various systems.
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