Mining is a basic industry of the national economy, with 93% of energy, 80% of industrial resources and 70% of the agricultural means of production coming from the this kind of product. The development of the mining industry has supplied plentiful mineral resources to various sectors and has played a sustainable part in developing the national economy.

The total output of all kinds of minerals reached 4.565 billion tons in 2001. Among them, 1.106 billion tons came from the coal output, 165 million tons was the crude oil, 30.318 cubic meters was the natural gas, 122 million tons was the gross output of 10 kinds of non-ferrous metals, 217 million tons was the iron ore, 50 million tons was the gross output of the raw chemical minerals, and 2.5 billion tons came from the gross output of other non-metallic minerals and various kinds of building cores, stones and sands.

The total coal output was 1.38 billion tons in 2002, increased by 18.9% over the previous year; the total output of the crude oil reached 167 million tons, up by 1.8% over that of 2001; the output of ten kinds of non-ferrous metals was 10.12 million tons, up by 14.5%.

The total number of various kinds of mineral enterprises was 153 thousand in 2001. Among which, the number of the state-owned or the state-controlled holdings ltd was 8000, accounting for 60% of the total production capacity, basically forming a kind of mineral enterprise structure combining the large-sized mineral enterprise with the medium and small-sized ones, with the state-owned mineral enterprises as a main part and other economic compositions as supporting parts.

The total value of the mineral industrial product was RMB 460.113 billion in 2001, accounting for 4.9% of GDP and 9.3% of the total industrial value. Among which, RMB 116.427 billion was made by the coal industry, RMB 235.991 billion by onshore oils, RMB 18.058 billion by the ferrous metal products, RMB 18.488 billion by ten kinds of non-ferrous metals and RMB 60.986 billion were made by the building materials and the non-metallic mineral products. The total value of the mineral mining and extracting industry as well as its processing industries accounts for 30% of GDP. The total profits made by all kinds of mineral mining enterprises stood at RMB 36.031 billion, representing the essential position and role of the mining industry in the national economy.

By restructuring the mining industry, the enterprises are more centralized, a number of the large-sized and extra-large-sized mining industrial groups and trans-nationals with international competitiveness have been basically set up. The product and technological structures are becoming more reasonable, which has created a favorable condition for the enterprises in entering into the international competitions.

In the field of FDI, there were 164 FDI mining projects in 2002, accounting for 0.48% of the total, with a contractual value of US$381 million, accounting for 0.46% of the total contractual value. The actually utilized value of FDI reached US$581 million in 2002, accounting for 1.10% of the total actually utilized value of FDI.

Since the mining industry is directly related to the national economic development, the crude oil, natural gas, coal, various kinds of metals and non-metallic mineral products are still subject to state trading after China's accession to the WTO. Under the commitments of China's accession to the WTO, the bound tariff rates of coal products are 3-6% up to the differences of its kind, the rate of natural gas is zero (natural gas is final rate) and the rates of various kinds of metals are 0-0.3% at the date of accession.