The transfer of State-owned mining rights for a fee is a top
priority in the country's agenda of building a resource market and
has become more widely accepted since it was first adopted in 1998.
Statistics from the Ministry of Land and Resources indicates the
practice has brought in 706 million yuan (US$85.3 million) in the
first half of this year, more than last year's total of 459 million
yuan (US$55.4 million).
A
source with the ministry said the increase is due to the ministry's
decision at the beginning of the year to adopt public bidding "as
much as possible" in the transfer of excavation rights. The
decision aims to stop transfers through the endowment of rights by
administrative authorities.
Besides public bidding, a common practice to transfer rights is
contract transferring. But this should be applied only when no
competition exists, the ministry stressed.
Most of the mines that have had their excavation rights publicly
auctioned have been small ones of non-metallic minerals for
construction purposes such as sand and stone.
All people with proper registration papers in China, including
those with foreign funds, can participate in public biddings for
excavation rights to various mines.
(China
Daily August 19, 2002)