Enterprise-oriented geological prospecting units or enterprise-oriented management was formally put forward in 1987 in the Outline of the Overall Conception of Geological Work System Reform of the Ministry of Geology and Mineral Resources. At that time, various forms of economic responsibility system were embodied in the enterprise of geological prospecting units. Obviously, after geological prospecting units implement geological project management and diversified management, they must provide a kind of motivation in the internal mechanism to distinguish the difference between good work and poor work, encourage those who do well, and spur those who do poorly, which will establish and improve the economic responsibility system, and then form various forms of contract management responsibility system, including "three guarantees, one suspension and one supplement".

"Three Guarantees" refers to the savings or profits (that is, the share of savings) paid by one package, which is mainly paid by the geological team to the Bureau; Value-added rate of two packages of fixed assets, excluding fixed assets of houses; Three guarantees the geological work tasks assigned by the state. "One hanging" means that the economic benefits of geological prospecting units are linked to the total wages. "One supplement" is a clear supplement to the "other expenses" of geological prospecting units through approval. These contracting contents generally reflect that there is an equal starting line between geological prospecting units, which provides a dynamic mechanism for encouraging the enthusiasm of geological prospecting units and the broad masses of employees.

At the same time, the "three funds" system has been widely implemented to reflect the combination of national, collective and individual interests. The so-called "three funds" refer to the savings and profits obtained by geological prospecting units after completing geological work within the budget, social geological market and diversified operations, which can be left to geological prospecting units and divided into three funds, namely, production development fund, employee welfare fund and employee incentive fund. The production development fund is used to purchase equipment, etc. The employee welfare fund is used for the collective welfare of employees; The reward fund is used to reward individual employees.

The above-mentioned reform measures, especially the commercialization of geological achievements, "focusing on one industry and diversified management" and the enterprise reform of geological prospecting units, were the main contents of geological work reform before 1998. It has not only the reform of the operation mechanism of geological work, but also the reform of the management mechanism of geological prospecting units, and they echo each other, promote each other, and advance in a planned and step-by-step manner, forming a complete blueprint for geological work reform, and have achieved good results through practice. Since 1999, with the promotion of the socialist market economic system and the merger of the former Ministry of Geology and Mineral Resources with the Ministry of Land and Resources, the reform of geological work has entered a new stage. The symbol of this stage is the Reform Plan of Geological Exploration Team Management System, which was deliberated and passed at the 15th executive meeting in the State Council on March 17th, 1999. The plan proposes to separate government from enterprise, strengthen the function of law enforcement and supervision of geological and mineral resources by the administrative department of land and resources, reserve some backbone forces at the central and provincial levels to undertake basic, public welfare and strategic geological exploration tasks, and gradually transform the remaining geological exploration units into economic entities that operate and manage according to market rules. The geological prospecting units in provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government) under the Ministry of Geology and Mineral Resources are uniformly assigned to the provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the Central Government), under the centralized management of the competent departments of land and resources of the provincial people's governments, and gradually implement enterprise management; Geological exploration teams belonging to various industrial departments should actively promote reform according to different situations; China Geological Survey will be established as an institution affiliated to the Ministry of Land and Resources to organize and implement national basic, public welfare and strategic geological and mineral exploration work. The above scheme was issued by document No.37 [1999] of the State Council.