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| Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang (2nd R) meets with members of the model prospecting team based in east China's Zhejiang Province, who are invited to give speeches to inspire workers employed in land and resources sector, in Beijing, capital of China, June 21, 2012. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei) |
BEIJING, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Vice Premier Li Keqiang on Thursday called on geological workers to strengthen mineral exploration in order to meet the country's rising demands for resources.
Li made the remarks during his meeting with members of a model prospecting team based in eastern province of Zhejiang, who were invited to Beijing to give speeches to inspire workers employed in land and resources sector.
Li urged the country's geological workers to learn from the model team, saying that the efforts of millions of ordinary geological workers have led China to grasp today's achievements in mineral exploration.
"Mineral resources are the basis for development, but have also bottlenecked China's industrialization and urbanization," he said.
China must strengthen geological work to increase energy independence, ensure energy security and meet its rising demands, especially when prices of energy and resources products have been fluctuating widely on international markets, he said.
Li said China lags far behind developed countries and energy-rich nations in geological exploration, although China is a vast country and has excellent conditions for mineralization.
Li called for more input in mineral exploration and asked geological workers to use advanced technologies in mineral exploration in order to achieve new breakthroughs in geological prospecting.
