| Mineral resources are an important material foundation for economic and social development, and the exploration and development of mineral resources is related to the national economy, people’s livelihood and national security. In order to ensure the security of the country’s mineral resources, the whole country is currently comprehensively organizing and implementing a new round of strategic measures to promote and strengthen the exploration and development of major domestic strategic mineral resources and increase production, and to improve the overall planning and coordination system for the exploration, mining, supply, storage and sale of strategic mineral resources from the source. In order to further identify Chinese resources and comprehensively reflect the results of mineral exploration and the laws of ore formation, a research team led by Academician CHEN Yuchuan took the lead in organizing and implementing the research and compilation of the first “Geology of Mineral Resources of China” in New China in 2012. To date, significant progress has been made in the research and compilation work, and the review and acceptance of more than 200 atlases has been completed, of which 88 have been officially published and distributed. With the strong support of the editorial board of the Journal of the Earth, this special issue brings together 18 papers, mainly covering the research and compilation results of some national mineral geological chronicles and provincial mineral geological chronicles, covering important mineral chapters such as uranium, manganese, copper, lead and zinc, high-purity quartz, gold, silver, lithium and chemical minerals, and provincial chapters such as Xinjiang, Qinghai, Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Inner Mongolia, Hebei and Jilin. By summarizing the characteristics of existing mineral resources and the laws of ore formation, mineralization prediction was carried out, and suggestions were made for a new round of mineral prospecting. |