Recently, according to a report from the Press Office of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Government, in 2024, the region’s public welfare geological exploration efforts achieved significant results, playing a leading and exemplary role, while the commercial exploration market continued to heat up, with several mines realizing substantial increases in reserves.
In 2024, Inner Mongolia made remarkable progress in increasing reserves of strategic mineral resources. Newly added resources included 52,400 tons of molybdenum, 591 million tons of iron ore, 80.6 tons of gold, and 11.8913 million tons of fluorite. Additionally, among advantageous minerals, new reserves included 12.759 billion tons of coal, 513.27 tons of silver, 222,100 tons of lead, 707,100 tons of zinc, 397 tons of indium, 1.772 million tons of pyrophyllite, and 2.188 million tons of mirabilite.
In 2024, notable breakthroughs were achieved in exploration efforts. The Shengli mining area in Xilinhot City added 1.246 billion cubic meters of coalbed methane resources, while the Tarangaole and Xinjie mining areas in Ordos City added 9.8 billion tons of coal resources. The natural alkali exploration project in Naiman Banner identified over 2 billion tons of natural alkali and rock salt resources. Multiple mines, including the Dasuji molybdenum mine in Zhuozhi County, the Tugurige rock gold mine in Urat Middle Banner, the Dianbao Village iron mine in Guyang County, and the Bumute I and II fluorite belts in Sunite Left Banner, achieved exploration breakthroughs through deep and peripheral "ore-proximate prospecting" and detailed investigations, with reserve increases reaching medium-to-large scales.
Currently, comprehensive exploration and reserve evaluation within mining areas have been largely completed, resulting in significant reserve increases for iron, niobium, and rare earth minerals. Public welfare geological surveys and comprehensive research projects funded by the autonomous region’s budget identified 19 prospective exploration targets, including iron, niobium, rare earths, gold, and fluorite. A newly discovered southern Baiyun’ebo mineral belt rich in iron, niobium, and rare earths was identified, with an estimated deposit scale reaching super-large proportions. Progress in the Beishan region’s special exploration efforts has been promising. From 2020 to 2024, the autonomous region allocated 500 million yuan to implement 100 geological exploration projects in Beishan, delineating 10 areas with exploration potential, including 6 gold deposits, 2 tungsten deposits, 1 molybdenum deposit, and 1 lead-zinc deposit.
In 2025, the autonomous region’s budget will continue to invest 750 million yuan in special funds for a new round of strategic exploration initiatives, deploying a total of 342 geological exploration projects. Among the 106 newly initiated projects, mineral exploration will focus primarily on strategic minerals such as gold, copper, tin, molybdenum, nickel, tungsten, and germanium, as well as advantageous minerals like silver, lead, and zinc, which are strengths of the region. These efforts will provide block recommendations to support the market-based transfer of mining rights.
