- Forests

 

The area of forests in Inner Mongolia ranks it in first place in China. The total area of forest mainly comprises the Greater Hinggan Mountain in the east of Inner Mongolia -- 18,867,000 hectares, accounting for 1/9 of country's total forest area. The growing stock of trees is 1.17 billion m3, accounting for 12% of the total. Excellent species include Hinggan Larch, Red Pine, Camphor Pine, Chinese Pine, Birch and Manchurian Ash, making Inner Mongolia an important forestry base in China.

 

 

- Mineral Resources

 

Over 92 types of minerals have been found in Inner Mongolia, of which, reserves of rare-earth resources have reached 82,702,000 tons, accounting for 97% of China's total rare-earth reserves. Inner Mongolia's coal reserves rank it in second place in the country, with more than 10 billion tons. There are five large-scale coalfields in Inner Mongolia that are suitable for opencast exploitation, of which, Jungar and Huolinhe are the largest ones; reserves of niobium and natural alkali rank it in first place in China; moreover, the reserves of 62 mineral resources including zinc, agate, mould and bauxite are all among the top 10 in China.

 

 

- Pastureland

 

Inner Mongolia's pastures rank it in first place among the five largest grazing areas of China. Its pastures have a total area of 86,667,000 hectares, of which 68,180,000 hectares are usable, accounting for more than 1/5 of the total usable pastures of the country. Hulun Beir, Xilingol, Keerqin, Ulaan Chab, Ordos and Wulate are famous pastures in China, where abundant and varied species of livestock are raised. For instance, the renowned Sanhe Cattle, Sanhe Horse,Prairie Red Horse, Wuzhumuqin Fat-tailed Sheep, Aohan Fine Wool Sheep, Inner Mongolia Fine Wool Sheep, Alpas White Goat and Alxa Camel are all excellent species.

 

 

- Land resources

 

Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has usable arable land of 6,769,000 hectares, and 0.24 hectares of arable land per capita, ranking it first in China.

 

- Oil Resources

 

About 1 billion tons of oil is reserved under Xilingol League Grassland, which is famous for its vast grassland and stockbreeding.

 

Xilingol Grassland League is located in Erlian Basin which has rich reserve of oil. The Alshan depressed area, Baolong depressed area and Sanggendalai depressed area in the basin, totaling about 100,000 square meters, contains more than 40 oil tectonic provinces. With drilling to 11oiltectonic provinces, two large petroliferous provinces were found. It is predicted that the geological reserves of oil in Xilingol League is about 200 million tons and the prospect reserve reaches 1 billion tons.

 

With dozens of years of prospecting, four petroliferous provinces, namely North Alshan, South Alshan, Hanan and Mongulin, were developed in Alshan area which covers 195 km2. The total verified reserve reaches 80.51 million tons. In 2003, four oil wells were driven in Bayindulanxin of East Ujimqin Banner. Primary drilling shows that the oil reserve of the area is about 50 million tons. Erlian Basin oil-bearing formation is shallow and easy to explore. The oil is inland crude oiloflow sulphur and high waxen.