Legal information

Kizilsu Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture

The Standing Committee of the People’s Congress on

Decision to strengthen supervision and management of mining rights

(Adopted at the 8th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 15th People’s Congress of the Kizilsu Kirgiz Autonomous Prefecture on June 26, 2023; Adopted by the Standing Committee of the 14th People’s Congress of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region on July 28, 2023

Approved at the fourth meeting of the Committee)

In order to standardize the supervision and management of mining rights, strengthen the protection and rational development and utilization of mineral resources, give full play to the advantages of mineral resources, and promote the high-quality development of the mining economy and the construction of ecological civilization, in accordance with the "Mineral Resources Law of the People's Republic of China", the Environmental Protection Law of the People's Republic of China and other relevant laws and regulations, combined with the actual situation of the autonomous prefecture, the following decision is made:

1. The development and utilization of mineral resources should adhere to the guidance of Xi Jinping’s ecological civilization thought, comprehensively implement the autonomous prefecture party committee’s resource-based, park-based, port-based economic development layout with new energy, new materials, new processing and manufacturing, and new business formats, adhere to the principles of ecological priority, green development, planning first, orderly mining, and comprehensive management, and achieve the unity of economic benefits, social benefits, and ecological benefits.

2. State, county (city) people's governments should strengthen leadership over the supervision and management of mineral resources, include the required funds in the fiscal budget at the same level, coordinate the establishment of departmental linkage mechanisms, strengthen information sharing, and regularly carry out joint law enforcement.

The natural resources department is responsible for the reserve management of mineral resources, the management of mining rights, the supervision and management of the protection and rational utilization of mineral resources.

The ecological environment department is responsible for standardizing the environmental impact assessment and approval of mining construction projects, and strengthening the supervision and management of mining ecological environment restoration and pollution prevention and control projects.

The emergency management department is responsible for the safety production of drilling projects and pit exploration projects in metal and non-metal mineral resource exploration operations, and the supervision and management of production safety in mines holding legal and valid mining licenses and safety production licenses.

The forestry and grassland department is responsible for the supervision and management of forestlands, grasslands, wetlands and nature reserves acquired in mining areas.

The public security organs are responsible for the investigation and handling of suspected illegal mining, destructive mining and other criminal cases transferred in accordance with the law, and the supervision and management of the safety of the purchase, transportation and blasting operations of civilian explosives involved in mining.

The water conservancy department is responsible for the supervision and management of soil and water conservation in mining areas and the implementation of groundwater intake, discharge, and water-saving measures.

Other relevant departments shall supervise and manage the protection and rational utilization of mineral resources in accordance with their respective legal responsibilities.

Township (town) people's governments and sub-district offices should assist in relevant work.

3. The natural resources departments of state, county (city) people's governments should strengthen the management of exploration rights.

(1) The holder of the exploration right shall submit an application for renewal in accordance with the law thirty days before the expiration of the exploration license, and the natural resources department of the autonomous prefecture people's government shall handle the renewal procedures in accordance with the law; for exploration rights at or above the autonomous prefecture level, an investigation opinion on the extension shall be issued to the superior authority. The area of ​​the exploration license shall be reduced according to regulations each time it is renewed. If the exploration right holder fails to complete the renewal registration procedures within the time limit due to the reasons of the exploration rights holder, the exploration license will be automatically invalidated.

(2) For exploration rights that fail to meet the legal minimum investment in exploration, the natural resources administrative department of the state, county (city) people's government shall order the exploration right holder to make corrections within a one-year deadline. If corrections are not made within the time limit, they shall be dealt with in accordance with the law; for exploration rights with authority above the autonomous prefecture level, the natural resources administrative department at the higher level shall cooperate with the superior natural resources administrative department to do relevant work.

(3) For exploration rights that have completed exploration work and meet the conditions for transfer to mining, if the exploration right holder fails to transfer mining beyond the retention period due to the owner's own reasons, the exploration rights with autonomous prefecture level authority will no longer be retained; for the exploration rights with authority at the autonomous prefecture level or above, an investigation opinion will be issued to the next higher level natural resources authority not to retain the exploration license.

(4) Any fraud in the disclosure of prospecting rights exploration information will be dealt with in accordance with the law.

4. The natural resources departments of state, county (city) people's governments should strengthen the management of mining rights.

(1) When a new mining right is established, the mining right holder shall implement the construction within the prescribed period after receiving the mining license. If the mining right holder fails to implement the construction within the time limit due to reasons of the mining right holder, the mining right will be automatically abandoned. For mining rights under the jurisdiction of an autonomous prefecture, the mining license will be canceled; for mining rights above the autonomous prefecture level, an investigation opinion on the cancellation of the mining license will be issued to the natural resources authority at the next higher level.

(2) For mining rights that continue normal production, based on reserves and production scale, mining rights with autonomous prefecture-level authority, the mining license validity period is fifteen years for large, ten years for medium, and five years for small. If the service period is less than the corresponding number of years, it will be processed according to the actual service years; for mining rights with authority above the autonomous prefecture level, a continuation investigation opinion will be issued based on the above-mentioned years.

(3) Mining rights that have been suspended for more than two years within the validity period, and mining rights under the jurisdiction of autonomous prefectures, will be extended for two years at a time; for mining rights above the autonomous prefecture level, an investigation opinion on the extension of the mining license for two years will be issued to the next-level natural resources department; after the transfer to normal production, it will be handled according to the provisions of the continuation of normal production mining rights.

(4) Mining enterprises that fail to meet the minimum production scale standards of the country and autonomous regions are required to complete rectifications within two years. If the rectifications are not completed, the autonomous prefecture people's government decides to close the mining rights, and the mining rights with autonomous prefecture level authority will cancel the mining license in accordance with regulations; for the mining rights with authority above the autonomous prefecture level, an investigation opinion on the cancellation of the mining license will be issued to the natural resources authority at the next level. If rectification cannot be completed due to force majeure, the time affected by the force majeure will be postponed.

(5) Illegal activities such as mining beyond the approved mining area, indiscriminate mining or destructive mining of mineral resources, reselling mining rights for profit, transferring mining rights without approval, failing to accept supervision and inspection, mining without obtaining a safety production license, etc. shall be dealt with in accordance with the law.

5. Take the market as the guide, increase the intensity of integrated development of mineral resources, and encourage mining enterprises with inefficient use of resources to integrate and transfer mining rights through cooperation, buyout, price participation, mergers and reorganizations, etc., so as to maximize the benefits of mineral resource development and utilization.

6. Encourage mining enterprises to adopt environmentally friendly development and utilization methods, save, intensively and comprehensively utilize associated ores, low-grade ores and tailings resources, and enjoy corresponding preferential treatment in accordance with regulations. Mines under construction, proposed and produced within the autonomous prefecture shall be planned, designed and constructed in accordance with green mine requirements.

7. The natural resources authorities of state, county (city) people's governments should strengthen the supervision and management of mine geological environment protection and land reclamation, conduct regular inspections, urge mining enterprises to consciously fulfill their obligations, and accelerate the ecological restoration of mines through policy incentives, market-oriented operations, and scientific governance models. Illegal behaviors such as failing to prepare a mine geological environment protection and land reclamation plan when it should be prepared; expanding mining scale, changing the scope of mining areas or mining methods, and failing to re-prepare a mine geological environment protection and land reclamation plan; failing to follow the mine geological environment protection and land reclamation plan; failing to accrue a mine geological environment management and restoration fund in accordance with regulations, etc. shall be dealt with in accordance with the law.

8. State, county (city) people's governments should create a market-oriented, legal and international business environment and protect the legitimate rights and interests of mining rights holders in accordance with the law. Increase the transparency of all aspects of mining rights transfer and registration, improve the transparency of mineral resource management, encourage and ensure that various market entities participate in open and fair competition, stimulate market vitality, and maintain the normal exploration and development order of mineral resources.

9. No unit or individual may obstruct or undermine the mining rights holder’s legal exploration and mining, and shall not enter the mining area where others have obtained the mining rights for exploration or mining.

Any unit or individual has the right to report violations of mineral resources laws and regulations and damage to the ecological environment. The natural resources and other competent departments of the county (city) people's government shall verify the contents of the reports, reward those who report true, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of the whistleblowers in accordance with the law.

10. The standing committees of state and county (city) people's congresses shall insist on regularly hearing and reviewing the reports of the people's governments at the same level on the supervision and management of mining rights, and comprehensively use statutory supervision methods such as law enforcement inspections, inquiries, interrogations, and investigations of specific issues to perform their supervisory responsibilities for the supervision and management of mining rights.

11. If the department responsible for the supervision and management of mining rights and its staff abuse their power, neglect their duties, engage in malpractice for personal gain during the supervision and management of mining rights, they shall be punished in accordance with the law; if a crime is constituted, criminal liability shall be pursued in accordance with the law.

12. Other acts that violate the provisions of this decision and shall bear legal responsibility shall be carried out in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.

13. This decision shall come into effect from the date of promulgation.