Tibet Has Copper Ore Reserves of 30 mln t, Half of China's Total

LHASA, Aug. 24 -- Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region has geological copper ore reserves of more than 30 million tons, accounting for over a half of the country's total, according to the region's geological prospecting bureau.

    The bureau director said that Tibet is the largest region in China by its copper resources reserves. By 2008, 329 copper ore deposits had been found in the region, including 11 large deposits and six mid-size ones. Its Qulong copper ore mine, the largest one in Asia, is estimated to possess copper reserves of more than 10 million tons.

    In the 2001-05 period, Tibet increased its copper ore reserves by nearly 10 million tons, with some having already been confirmed by experts.

    Copper is one of the scarce commodities in China. The country imports a large amount of copper and copper concentrate every year.

    (Source: chinamining.org)