Seven Strategic Concepts for New Era Geological Development in Hunan

The '15th Five-Year Plan' period is a crucial five years for China as it moves toward the goal of basically achieving socialist modernization by 2035, and it is also a critical five years for Hunan's geological transformation, reform, and breakthrough leaps. On October 23, 2025, the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China reviewed and approved the "Suggestions of the CPC Central Committee on Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development," which provides top-level design and strategic planning for the development of the next five years. It clarifies that the theme of the economic and social development during the '15th Five-Year Plan' period is high-quality development, and it puts forward arrangements for building a modern industrial system, developing new types of productive forces, constructing a beautiful China, and building a higher-level safe China, providing fundamental guidance for geological work. As an important force serving national strategies and supporting local development, Hunan geology must be guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, thoroughly implement the spirit of the plenary session, plan with strategic thinking, coordinate with a systemic perspective, and tackle challenges through innovation. This will achieve a transformation from being a 'forerunner in mineral exploration' to a 'vanguard supporting a galloping force,' thereby contributing geological wisdom and strength to the high-quality economic and social development of Hunan and the whole country.

Deepening Core Responsibilities ·Building a New Pattern of Resource Security

 The plenary session has once again placed energy and resource security in a key strategic position. In the new situation, geological exploration is advancing breakthroughs in the directions of 'deep, peripheral, blind, and marine,' becoming an inevitable choice for Hunan geology to integrate into national strategies and support regional development. Unlocking 'deep' potential, guided by major national science and technology projects in the mid-section of the Qin-Hang metallogenic belt for copper and the central-western section of the Nanling for tin, and focusing on Hunan's strategic mineral strengths such as lithium, manganese, gold, tin, antimony, and rare earths, a 'trinity' exploration system integrating 'mineralization rules, 3D modeling, and deep detection' is being established to break through the 'secondary enrichment zones' and assist in building five national-level and '10+20' provincial-level resource bases. Expanding to the 'periphery,' understanding of mineralization rules is deepened through 'mine-based exploration' around old mines such as Shuikoushan, Huangsaping, and Shizhuyuan, effectively extending mine life and achieving 'new growth from old roots.' Exploring the 'blind' path, focusing on key metallogenic areas (belts) such as the Upper Yangtze, Jiangnan Uplift, and Nanling, accelerating full coverage 1:50,000 basic geological surveys, targeting low-intensity work areas and fully concealed ore bodies, carrying out prospective surveys and potential evaluations, submitting a batch of high-quality reserve exploration sites, and opening up 'new frontlines' for mineral exploration. Moving toward the 'marine' front, leveraging inter-provincial cooperation platforms, connecting with provincial deep-sea drilling technology, and jointly using resource advantages to advance deep-sea mineral exploration, supporting the development of a strong maritime nation, and leading transformations in Hunan's resource security landscape through changes in geological exploration space.

Full-chain collaboration · Supporting the new transformation of modern industries

A modern industrial system is the material and technological foundation of Chinese-style modernization. Hunan is accelerating the construction of the '4×4' modern industrial system, aiming to solidify the industrial base, or 'four beams and eight pillars,' for high-quality development across the province. It also advances the geological sector to a new strategic position characterized by 'internal and external linkage and bidirectional empowerment.' By strengthening the safety front line and focusing on 'major national priorities,' the province is accelerating the transformation of research results on the strategic mineral resources that support the modern industrial system. Focusing on 28 key minerals, it plans holistically with the 'three major strategies,' solves problems through the 'eight major projects,' and reshapes the entire chain of 'exploration, extraction, supply, storage, and sales' to ensure a modern mineral resource security system. By reinforcing the collaborative industrial chain, based on a province-wide 'overall planning' approach, Hunan is deepening provincial-level coordination of mineral resources, connecting with leading enterprises such as Hunan Minerals, Hunan Rail, and Hunan Haili, and innovatively promoting the 'chain leader, chain owner, chain network' development model. This empowers the full process security supply of strategic mineral resources and injects 'geological momentum' into the creation of a trillion-yuan mining industry cluster. By solidifying new industrial tracks, the province precisely aligns with advantageous industries, targets services for emerging sectors, and proactively lays out future industries. Taking new energy, new materials, and green low-carbon industries as breakthroughs, it fully leverages geological research, data, and talent advantages to propose a series of geological solutions in supply chain security, industrial chain collaboration, and demand-side alignment, resulting in a number of actionable and replicable geological support outcomes and advancing Hunan's '4×4' modern industrial system to a higher level.

Digital Intelligence Empowerment · Reshaping a New Paradigm in Geological Exploration 

With the full implementation of the “Artificial Intelligence” initiative, digital transformation and intelligent upgrading will become the 'key leap' for the geological industry to break development bottlenecks and reshape core competitiveness. It is essential to deeply integrate artificial intelligence with mineral exploration to drive the transformation of geological exploration from the traditional 'geological hammer and compass' to the modern 'geological AI' paradigm. By optimizing the innovation ecosystem, a comprehensive geological science and technology innovation complex that connects 'research institutes, geological survey units, and mining enterprises' should be established, promoting collaborative innovation across 'production, learning, research, and application.' A targeted cultivation and introduction of a skilled 'geological AI' talent pipeline should be implemented, alongside building a modern exploration equipment system characterized by 'intelligent leadership, green guidance, and systematic collaboration.' Focus should be placed on strengthening research in key AI-driven mineral exploration technologies, breaking technical barriers and data silos, enabling efficient flow of innovation elements across both the industrial and innovation chains. Accelerating the integration of digital intelligence, relying on databases in basic geology, solid minerals, geochemistry, and physical and chemical remote sensing, while incorporating deep learning and big data analysis technologies, will promote effective integration of multi-source heterogeneous geological data. Efforts should be made to develop an intelligent mineral prediction methodology with Hunan characteristics, enabling rapid and accurate delineation of exploration blocks, significantly shortening the mineral prediction iteration cycle, and advancing mineral prediction from the traditional 'experience-driven' and single 'data-driven' approaches to a higher-level 'integrated intelligence' approach. Demonstration effects should be created by targeting exploration directions for strategic minerals such as lithium, gold, manganese, and tin, selecting key exploration blocks like Pingjiang gold mine, Yongzhou manganese mine, and Linwu lithium mine for AI-based mineral exploration pilot applications, summarizing and promoting exemplary practices from these cases to drive breakthroughs in mineral exploration, achieving new results, and reaching new milestones.

Multi-domain Expansion · Exploring New Blue Ocean in Geological Services

Serving the comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development and contributing to the construction of a Beautiful China and a Beautiful Hunan is the core mission and value pursuit of the geology sector in Hunan in the new era. We must base our work on the overall development of the nation and the province, extend service boundaries, continuously amplify advantages in geological technology, data, and achievements, and use a 'geological' perspective to unlock diverse scenarios, providing all-round support for economic and social development. In urban geology, with the Chang-Zhu-Tan metropolitan area as the core and radiating to key cities within the province, we aim to build high-precision underground 3D spatial models, laying a 'subterranean cornerstone' for urban planning, underground space layout, and resilient city construction. In agricultural geology, we leverage the outcomes of the national soil survey to focus on improving quality and efficiency in specialty agriculture, accurately identifying selenium-rich, zinc-rich, and other specialty land resources, providing scientific support for the planning and branding of specialty agricultural products. In cultural and tourism geology, we integrate tourism geological resource surveys and results, systematically explore the value of geological relics, and plan and implement high-quality geological cultural tourism projects, creating highly recognizable Hunan landmarks of 'strange mountains and unique waters.' In health geology, we deepen specialized research on the 'Cadmium Distribution Map,' carry out research on soil heavy metal pollution tracing, treatment, and restoration technologies, and accelerate the creation of a province-wide 'Health Geology Map.' In military geology, we focus on national defense construction needs, conduct geological environment assessments for military infrastructure construction, and provide precise geological information and decision-making suggestions to strongly support strategic planning, national defense project layout, and safe operation and maintenance. In rescue geology, we improve the provincial, municipal, and county-level emergency technical support systems and rapid response mechanisms for geological disasters, enhance capabilities in geological disaster monitoring, prediction, and emergency response, and provide professional support for drought relief, water sourcing, and mine emergency rescue, ensuring a solid foundation for building a higher-level Safe Hunan.

Turning Stone into Gold · Showcasing a New Pinnacle of Geological Value

The geological sector is founded on creating resource value and focuses on achieving value transformation as its pathway. Through full-chain services and multi-dimensional innovation, it expands channels for realizing the value of mining rights and ecological products according to local conditions, turning geological advantages into local development advantages. By intensively managing the mining rights market and closely aligning with the newly revised 'Mineral Resources Law of the People’s Republic of China' and the reforms in the mining rights transfer system, it explores the establishment of a full-process service mechanism covering 'exploration—evaluation—transfer—supervision.' This assists local governments in formulating scientific mining rights transfer plans, guides the orderly flow of high-quality mining rights to enterprises with strong technical capabilities and high environmental standards, and ensures that the revenue from mining rights transfers is accurately channeled into local infrastructure and public welfare, creating a direct avenue for resource monetization. Innovating in ecological value transformation, guided by the concept of a 'community of life encompassing mountains, waters, forests, fields, lakes, grasslands, and deserts,' it builds a three-dimensional 'ecological restoration' model by embedding mine management and land remediation into industrial operations. It strategically develops projects in ecological agriculture, ecotourism, and green energy, realizing frequent conversion of ecological value into economic value. Leveraging geological carbon sink investigation technology, it establishes carbon sink accounting standards for mine restoration, wetland protection, and other areas, connecting to the national carbon market for trading and monetization, thereby opening sustainable green revenue sources for local governments. A virtuous cycle is created by adhering to the principle of 'one mine, one policy' with category- and step-based measures, accelerating the conversion of exploration into mining and the disposition of existing mining rights, and collaborating with strong enterprises in acquiring new mining rights to promote optimization and upgrading of the mining rights structure. A dynamic adaptation mechanism between geological services and local development is established, precisely aligning with county-level economic planning, forming a cycle of 'geology empowering finance, finance feeding back into geology,' providing solid value support for high-quality local economic and social development.

Financial Support · Injecting New Momentum into Geological Development

The growth potential of the geological industry needs to be activated through diverse capital and financial innovation to break barriers. It is necessary to respond to the major initiative of accelerating the construction of a strong financial nation, make good use of national-level policies supporting the development of equity, derivatives, and asset securitization, and leverage the power of financial markets to continuously inject vitality into the geological industry. By involving multiple participants to address challenges, a multi-participation mechanism of 'government-led, enterprise-dominated, geological surveying-supported, and financially-assisted' should be established, clearly defining the guiding role of fiscal funds, the leverage effect of provincial geological survey funds, and the market-oriented nature of social capital. Multiple approaches should be adopted to overcome challenges such as high investment, long cycles, and low activity in geological exploration and development. Using funds as a bridge, the provincial geological survey fund should continue to play its connecting role, guiding diverse social capital flows into the geological exploration sector, and driving the full-chain development of resource exploration, industry cultivation, and value transformation. This will allow various forms of capital to interact positively and complement each other while sharing risks and benefits. By expanding channels to enhance activity, the financial strategy of Hunan should be coordinated with industrial development needs, the mining finance system should be improved, and financing channels should be diversified through methods such as loans, equity, and investments. A risk-sharing mechanism for mining finance should be promoted to amplify investment efficiency, encouraging financial capital to invest in the mining industry with confidence, willingness, and competence. By adapting products to improve quality, local financial institutions such as Hunan Bank and Changsha Bank should be guided to design standardized mortgage loan products based on mining rights, explore the path of mining rights asset securitization (ABS), and encourage large provincial mining enterprises to use future mining rights revenue as underlying assets to issue infrastructure-related real estate investment trusts (REITs), focusing on mineral exploration and development, green technology R&D, and geological equipment upgrades. This will attract patient capital and strategic capital for continuous investment, turning 'underground resources' into 'capital vitality'.

Breaking the Reform Deadlock · Unleashing New Vitality in the Geological System

Implementing the plenary session's decision to 'comprehensively deepen the reform of public institutions' and steadily advancing the reform of geological survey units is the inevitable path for Hunan's geological system to achieve self-revolution and embrace the changes of the times. In terms of deepening the reform layout, we plan in a systematic way, aligning with the top-level deployment of the central and provincial governments on the reform of public institutions, steadily promoting the optimization of team structures and efficient aggregation of institutional functions, clarifying the 'three-fold' positioning of the geological system, and realizing targeted policies and precise management by defining the main responsibilities of public welfare Category I, the collaborative positioning of Category II, and the market orientation of geological enterprises, thus forming a healthy development pattern of 'solidifying the foundation through public welfare, increasing value through the market.'  In implementing public welfare functions, efforts are made precisely to enable geological survey units to efficiently undertake special tasks funded by the government, such as geological surveys, disaster prevention, and ecological restoration, through mechanisms like direct allocation in the financial budget, general contracting of major projects, and resource allocation preferences, ensuring that public geological services are 'never absent.' 。In enhancing innovation capability, continuous breakthroughs are pursued with a strategic focus on digitalization, greening, and intelligent transformation, strengthening core functions such as geological digital technology research and geological scientific studies, optimizing organizational structure and functional allocation, promoting the integration and sharing of geological data, research and application of intelligent equipment, and the promotion of green exploration technology, aiding Hunan geology in ranking among the nation's advanced lines. In boosting intrinsic motivation, efforts are carried deeper to coordinate the restructuring of geological work resources, platform reconstruction, and functional redesign across the province, breaking regional barriers and departmental fragmentation, and building a new geological team structure that is 'clear in responsibilities, closely coordinated, and efficiently operated,' consolidating system-wide synergy through reform, and enabling Hunan's geological undertakings to demonstrate greater commitment and achieve greater results in serving national strategies and supporting local development. 

At this critical stage of transformation during the '15th Five-Year Plan,' the development vision for Hunan geology in the new era not only accurately responds to diverse demands in the field of people's livelihoods but also provides significant support for the transition of geological undertakings from traditional services to innovation and quality improvement. In the next five years, Hunan geology will be guided by the spirit of the plenary session, earnestly implement actions, harness synergy through collaborative concepts, resolve challenges with reform determination, and write a more vibrant 'Hunan Geology Chapter' in the new journey of deeply integrating into the overall modernization of Hunan.

(Author: Tan Wensheng, Party Secretary and Vice President of Hunan Provincial Geological Institute)