The reform of mineral resources and reserves classification in China is marked by the promulgation and implementation of the national standard GB/T 17766- 1999 "Classification of Solid Mineral Resources and Reserves" in 199 1 year. This reform began with 1. Its background is:
(1) requirements of reform and opening up and economic restructuring
After China entered the new period of reform and opening-up, the following new situations have emerged in mineral resources exploration and development: ① The diversification of investment subjects in mineral resources exploration and development has broken the single form of central financial investment in the planned economy period, while the state, as one of the investors, has gradually turned its investment direction to strategic mineral geological exploration after many reforms, and the exploration degree is generally only in the prospecting stage; (2) The mineral geological exploration market is gradually rising, and the national planned projects are reduced. Non-state-owned investors look for exploration units through the market, and exploration units gradually step onto the market to find exploration projects; (3) In the initial stage of mineral geological exploration market, some investors have little funds, and the scope of resource exploration is small and the cycle is short. Some investors use the exploration report with low exploration degree for mine construction design, even without formal design, and exploration and design units also adopt a flexible attitude in the market; (4) Foreign investors' entry into China's mining market has brought information about mining laws, economic feasibility evaluation methods and computer technology in market economy countries, and at the same time caused communication barriers with different systems and norms. For example, East and West adopt different classification systems of resources and reserves, and the word "reserves" is "in-situ reserves" in China, and there is not much difference in the meaning of "economically recoverable", so it is difficult to compare with each other. ⑤ China investors go abroad, enter the international mining market, gradually adapt to international practices, and bring back corresponding information.
These conditions have affected China's exploration norms. In order to adapt to this change, we must consider reforming the exploration norms, and the first one is the classification reform of resources and reserves.
(2) The basis of gradual adjustment and reform of exploration specifications in 1990s.
Since the late 1980s, with the reform of the economic system, the State Reserve Committee has gradually adjusted and reformed some provisions in the Code that are not suitable for the market economy, and its core is the issue of reserve ratio at all levels.
1989 "brief report on the exchange of experience in the examination and approval of metallic mineral exploration reports" work briefing, the provincial storage committee, said: "The proportion of reserves directly affects the economic benefits of mine construction and production, and also relates to the economic benefits of geological exploration and shortening the exploration period. Under China's current planned commodity economy system, we should give consideration to economic benefits. According to the actual situation of mine production in China, the proportion of reserves at all levels should conform to the principle of "guarantee the first phase, guarantee the preparation period and guarantee the first phase", so that the proportion of B+C reserves is linked to the scale of mine construction to meet the investment repayment. " This view is the first step in the standardization reform of mineral geological exploration in China, the reform of the exploration degree to meet the needs of the market, and the reform of the standardization of the core part. Later, the content of the briefing officially became the document 199 10 of the State Mineral Reserves Administration in June: Interim Provisions on Opinions on Several Issues Concerning the Preparation and Approval of Metal Mineral Exploration Reports; 1992 writes the principle of "guarantee phase I, preparation period and reserve period" into the new general principles of exploration specifications.
In the early 1990s, the Office of the State Reserve Committee began to explore the adjustment of specifications. 1In March 1995, the State Reserve Committee 1 1 plenary session deliberated and adopted the Opinions on Adjusting Specification Requirements and Reforming Reserve Approval drafted by the Office of the State Reserve Committee. There are three major changes in the specifications in this document:
The mining area should have overall control to meet the requirements of the overall layout of the mine, and the exploration can be carried out by stages and sections, paying attention to the exploration degree of the first mining area; Under the condition of counterpart exploration, the proportion of reserves at all levels can be agreed with counterpart units according to the scale of mine production. The mineral reserves of Grade B and C (Grade A and B for coal) required for the first-phase mining should generally meet the requirements of current mine production or 5-7 years (10- 15 years for large and medium-sized coal mines); The examination and approval of small ore reserves should be appropriately relaxed according to the actual development situation and with reference to this specification.
The release of this document has actually made a preliminary exploration specification, which was also a major reform at that time. In particular, the important index reflecting the exploration level-the proportion of reserves at all levels is no longer required in the case of counterpart exploration, but is determined by the development unit, which gives the mining development investors the actual decision-making power to find a balance between reasonable exploration level and small mining investment risk. At the same time, the problem that geological prospecting units and mine construction units pay too much attention to the requirements of reserve ratio intervals and exploration project spacing at all levels, which are mainly used as reference, in the long-term evolution process of implementing the specification, and they think it is "over-implementation" in order to coordinate the two sides in the review process of the storage Committee. This reform has been supported by the competent departments of the industry, other owners and exploration units, and the review scale of reserve report reviewers has become more flexible and practical. The above reforms have achieved good results in the practice of adapting to the needs of market economy development.
199 1 year later, the establishment of the classification standard of solid mineral resources reserves was started, the reform of reserves classification under the new situation was discussed, and a new classification standard of solid mineral resources reserves was formulated. In the process of drafting, we extensively studied domestic and foreign materials, from 1994 to 1995, and began to brew a complete breakthrough in the former Soviet model and take the step of integrating with the international community. In order to adapt to the market economy and determine the international practice, two classification tables of mineral resources, reserves-secondary economic resources and reserves-base-secondary economic resources, were drawn up with reference to the classification principles of the United States, but the drafts were not submitted for review for some reason.
The above reforms laid the foundation for the great reform of 1999.
(3) Opportunities of the United Nations international reserve/resource classification framework.
1997, the drafting of China solid mineral resources reserve classification standard was restarted. In the research process, with the United Nations Framework for International Classification of Reserves/Resources issued by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission 1997 in February as an opportunity, the drafting of classification norms in China has made a breakthrough.
The United Nations classification framework has had a great impact on mineral geological exploration in China. Judging from the text of the classification framework, it is formulated to "strengthen exchanges at the national and international levels, provide more understandable and accurate knowledge for useful reserves/resources, and make investment in solid fuels and other mineral products safer and more attractive", and "it will help countries with economies in transition reassess their solid fuels and other mineral deposits according to market economy standards". Its purpose of serving the global economic integration is very clear.
The classification framework consists of geological evaluation stage (geological assurance degree), feasibility evaluation stage and economic reliability. Its three-dimensional form is that the horizontal axis (G axis) is the geological evaluation stage, the vertical axis (F axis) is the feasibility evaluation stage, and the third axis (E axis) is the economic reliability. Based on this classification principle, all possible reserves and resource types are classified, and reserves (economically recoverable part of the total mineral resources confirmed by feasibility evaluation) are divided into confirmed (11) and rough (12 1+ 122). Resources are divided into six categories: feasibility (2 1 1), pre-feasibility (22 1+222), certainty (33 1), presumption (332), speculation (333) and reconnaissance (334). Reserves/resources * * * are divided into eight categories (category code is ten). Because the three aspects of information in this framework reflect all the information that has affected the classification at present, fully meet all the conditions needed for classification, and consider all possible reserves/resource types, the classification method can be said to be very scientific.
The classification framework is not a strict technical standard, nor is it an international standard formulated by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The classification framework is only to establish a mechanism, so that reserves/resources can be classified according to the international unified system on the basis of market economy conditions, and the existing classification and terminology of various countries can be integrated into it, so as to achieve the purpose of mutual compatibility and promote international exchanges. It adapts to the needs of countries with economies in transition and has an important enlightening effect on our reform.
2. New classification of solid mineral resources reserves in China.
Under the background of the above reform, China has formulated GB/T17766-1999 "Classification of Solid Mineral Resources/Reserves". The new classification is based on four different geological reliability levels (proven, controlled, inferred and predicted) obtained in four exploration stages (exploration, detailed investigation, general survey and pre-investigation) and different economic meanings (economy, marginal, sub-marginal, intrinsic and uncertain) obtained by corresponding feasibility evaluation (feasibility study, pre-feasibility study and general study). Among them, economy and marginal economy are classified as basic reserves; Sub-marginal economy, internal economy and uncertain economic significance are classified as resources; The economic part takes recoverable as an additional condition, and divides the reserves from the economic basic reserves (the actual recoverable amount after deducting the design and mining losses). According to the different geological reliability and feasibility evaluation stages, the reserves are divided into recoverable reserves and pre-recoverable reserves. The classification system takes different geological reliability, feasibility evaluation and economic significance as the three axes, and divides the resource reserves into 16 types and codes them. See table 1 solid mineral resources/reserves classification table for its matrix form.
3. Main features of the new classification
(1) Feasibility evaluation, as an important condition of classification, strengthens the economic significance of resource reserves.
Table 1 Classification Table of Solid Mineral Resources/Reserves
This feature is the most important progress in classification. In the past, it was of economic significance to classify the reserves obtained by exploration into off-balance-sheet reserves, especially the demonstration of industrial indicators in the exploration stage, which endowed the reserves with certain economic significance (only under the planned economy condition, the price changed little, and the fluctuation of international prices was generally ignored, so it was often commented as "no economic significance", "unclear economic significance" or "no dynamic"). However, after submitting the report to the industrial department, the geological prospecting units need to conduct feasibility study and re-evaluate the reserves provided by the exploration report, including calculating the recoverable reserves. After 1987, the technical and economic evaluation was added to the exploration report, which is of great significance for geological prospecting units unfamiliar with economic evaluation to understand the exploration results from an economic perspective, but it still cannot replace the feasibility study. Under the planned economy system, the feasibility study field does not involve exploration, and the feasibility study does not involve reserve classification conditions, so the determination of its economic significance has great limitations. Now, in order to adapt to the market economy system, the feasibility evaluation is regarded as the necessary condition of resource reserve classification, which fundamentally solves the economic significance of resource reserve classification.
(2) Abandoning the original meaning of reserves classification, the concept of reserves in line with international standards is established.
This feature has the most reform significance. In the past, in the geological exploration of solid minerals in China, the word "reserves" refers to in-situ reserves, and it is only used in various stages of exploration and various geological reliability (even forecasting resources), which is far from the meaning of reserves used by market economy mining countries in the world. Now the new classification abandons the meaning of reserves in the original classification of reserves, and the word "reserves" is strictly used only for economically recoverable parts, which conforms to the internationally accepted concept of reserves.
(3) The new classification is the most complete classification involving resources and reserves since the establishment of reserves classification in China.
The new classification includes: recoverable reserves related to design and production, resource reserves formed in exploration stage, and predicted resources used for mineral resources prediction.
1) The use of recoverable reserves associated with design and production actually exists in China. For example, this kind of reserves has entered the relevant classification in the exploration of oil, natural gas and groundwater, and has also been calculated in the exploration of decorative stone, but it has never been included in the classification specification of solid mineral reserves.
2) The resource reserves formed in the exploration stage are the main body of our past research on reserve classification. The classification of mineral reserves in China generally refers to the classification standard in the General Principles of Exploration Specifications formulated by the State Reserve Committee 1992, but only after the completion of the exploration stage, the reserves are divided into on-balance sheet and off-balance sheet, with grades A, B, C, D and E. Compared with the new classification standard, it is not a complete classification of resources and reserves.
3) The predicted reserves used in the total mineral resources prediction are divided into three levels: E, F and G (E is listed as the lowest level of exploration reserves in 1992 general exploration rules). This kind of reserves, called geological reserves, was once included in the Provisional Specification for Mineral Reserves Classification formulated by the State Reserve Committee of 1959, but it was not mentioned in the General Rules for Exploration Specifications of 1977 and 1992. Now, it becomes part of the complete classification.