Recently, the Office of the Ministry of Natural Resources issued the "2023 National Non Oil and Gas Geological Exploration Statistical Annual Report", which showed that the investment in non oil and gas geological exploration in China in 2023 was 20.072 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.7%, achieving positive growth for three consecutive years. There are 124 new mining areas in China, including 4 new coal mining areas and 10 new graphite mining areas. According to the annual report, from the perspective of the sources of funding for non oil and gas geological exploration in China in 2023, the central government's budget was 4.623 billion yuan, accounting for 23% of the total, a year-on-year increase of 10.6%; The local finance was 8.504 billion yuan, accounting for 42.4% of the total, a year-on-year increase of 0.7%; Social funds amounted to 6.945 billion yuan, accounting for 34.6% of the total, a year-on-year increase of 15.5%. From the perspective of capital investment, mineral exploration amounted to 11.756 billion yuan, accounting for 58.5% of the total amount; The basic geological survey cost 2.223 billion yuan, accounting for 11.1% of the total amount; The survey and evaluation of hydrogeology, environmental geology, and geological hazards amounted to 3.833 billion yuan, accounting for 19.1% of the total; Geological technology and comprehensive research amounted to 2.028 billion yuan, accounting for 10.1% of the total; Geological data services and informatization amounted to 232 million yuan, accounting for 1.2% of the total. In 2023, mineral exploration investment mainly focused on coal, uranium, gold, copper, lead zinc, and iron, accounting for 58.2% of the total mineral exploration investment. Compared with 2022, the main types of minerals with increased investment include nickel, lead zinc, rare earth, copper, molybdenum, gold, iron, etc. In 2023, there were 3792 mineral exploration projects implemented, a year-on-year increase of 10.9%; Completed a drilling workload of 9.06 million meters, a year-on-year increase of 31.9%. As of the end of 2023, there were a total of 11256 valid non oil and gas exploration rights in China, an increase of 9.8% compared to the end of 2022; The registered exploration area is 125100 square kilometers, an increase of 10.1% compared to the end of 2022; Mainly distributed in the western region. The top 5 mineral types with the highest number of exploration rights are gold, copper, lead, iron, and coal, accounting for 65% of the total in the country. (Lai Xin She)