China will inject 1.5 billion yuan to continually promote the exploration of major minerals including coal, iron, copper, lead and zinc in Xinjiang in 2010, to provide adequate resource support for China's economic and social development.

According to the Office of Land and Resources in Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, the central government and Xinjiang will inject a total of 1.5 billion yuan to continually explore the west-to-east coal transportation bases in 2010, such as the Tuha Basin and the Ili Kazakh Autonomous Prefecture, as well as the major metallogenic prospective provinces, and strive to explore another 30 ore fields, increasing iron ore resources by 500 million tons, copper by 1 million tons, lead and zinc by 3 million tons and coal by 300 billion tons.

With financial investment from the central government and Xinjiang, the mineral exploration in Xinjiang is expected to attract 2 billion yuan of social funds in 2010.

Xinjiang, which covers an area of about 1.7 million square kilometers, is located at the center of Eurasia, accounting for 1/6 of China. It has a unique geological structure and abundant mineral resources. As of 2009, 138 mineral resources and more than 4,000 ore fields were found in Xinjiang.

In July 2008, the Ministry of Land Resources and the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region People's Government signed an agreement to jointly carry out a public welfare geological survey and major mineral exploration projects in order to gain greater achievements within the next three, five and eight years.

The project was officially launched in 2009 with the number of newly opened and existing projects reaching 186 and a total investment of 994 million yuan. The project has made great achievements, with about 112 billion tons of coal resources newly found in the Tuha Basin, 30 billion tons of potash resources in the Lop Nur and 175 million tons of iron ore found deep in the Hejing County Iron Ore Fields.