E-Paper
China to dig 3-10km deep to exploit under-earth, sea resources to sustain 5,000yrs
“Just 2% of the resources from between three and 10km beneath Chinese territory could be enough for us to use for over 5,000 years,” Dong Shuwen, former deputy director of the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, at the National Land and Resources Scientific Innovation Conference said.
Resource-hungry China plans to start a deep earth exploration plan, which includes deep sea survey, to augment natural resources which will sustain the country for the next 5,000 years, an official has said.
The plan was outlined in a report entitled “Development Planning of Territorial Resources for Scientific Innovation during the 13th five-year plan,” issued recently by the ministry of land and resources, official media here reported.
“Just 2% of the resources from between three and 10km beneath Chinese territory could be enough for us to use for over 5,000 years,” Dong Shuwen, former deputy director of the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences, at the National Land and Resources Scientific Innovation Conference said.
In the next five years, China will conduct surveys of urban underground space utilisation, underground water-bearing and more in order to evaluate the potential resources and prospects of Chinese cities’ underground territory, state.
“We will unswervingly implement the strategy of sustainable development, adhere to the green low-carbon development cycle, adhere to the basic national policy of saving resources and protecting the environment,” Chinese President, Xi Jinping said in his speech at the B20, held a day ahead of just concluded G20 summit in Hangzhou.
“We promote green development, but also to take the initiative to address climate change and overcapacity. The next five years, China Unit GDP water consumption, energy consumption, carbon dioxide emissions will drop by 23%, 15%, 18%,” he said.
“From the beginning of 2016, we are vigorously promoting supply-side structural reforms,” Xi said and announced plans to crude steel production capacity from 100 million to 150 million tons in Yajian in Sichuan province.
In the next three to five years coal production capacity will be cut by 500 million tonnes, he said.
Chinese officials however believe that China need to make effective use of underground space. Singapore and Japan utilise space up to 200 metres below ground.
However, China’s current average utilisation is less than 50 metres; this means that in most cities, there are at least 150 metres of space yet to be exploited, the People’s Daily report said.
By 2020, China’s underground strategic exploration targets include mining ability at two km, the technology to conduct mineral resources prospecting at 3km, advanced technology to explore resources at 5km and the improvement of oil and gas exploration at between 6.5 and 10km underground, the report said.
When the prospective depth for oil and gas exploration will reach 10km underground, and new energies such as terrestrial heat will be exploited, it said.
