Lei Yalin, Xu Xiangyang, and Bai Weihua (1. China University of Geosciences, Beijing, 100083; 2. Beijing Zhongmian Ziguang Biotechnology Co., Ltd., Beijing, 100044) 1. The current status of solid mineral exploration in my country is based on the relevant data of the "Land and Resources Statistical Yearbook" According to the analysis, it can be found that from 1997 to 2000, the investment in geological exploration for minerals showed a decreasing trend, from 2.047 billion yuan in 1997 to 1.447 billion yuan in 2000, a decrease of 30.2%; although it increased subsequently, to In 2002, it was 1.857 billion yuan, but it was still 190 million yuan lower than in 1997.

Among the 45 major minerals that have been proven in my country, only 6 can be fully guaranteed domestically, and the reserves of 26 minerals have been reduced to varying degrees, many of which are bulk minerals related to the lifeline of the national economy.

Domestic mineral exploration has obviously lagged behind the consumption of mineral resources, which fully illustrates the urgency of increasing domestic investment in solid mineral resource exploration while "going global" to utilize international mineral resources.

The State Council clearly divided geological exploration work into public welfare geological work and commercial geological work in 1999, and implemented separate operations and separate management.

Under these conditions, discussions on strengthening capital investment in mineral exploration must be analyzed from two levels: public welfare mineral exploration and commercial mineral exploration.

For the former, it is organized, implemented and managed by the China Geological Survey, and mainly financed by the central government, so it is relatively easy to strengthen it; while for the latter, due to the need to implement commercial market operations, each geological survey unit that has been localized implements

To operate independently and be responsible for its own profits and losses, its strengthening is much more complex and difficult.

However, as one of the important material foundations for my country's economic construction and social development, mineral resources must inevitably introduce market mechanisms under the conditions of the socialist market economy and allocate mineral resources based on market mechanisms to fundamentally improve the efficiency of allocation. and benefits, this is an irreversible development trend of the entire mining industry.

In view of this, this article mainly analyzes the issues related to commercial exploration investment in solid mineral exploration investment in my country.

2. Relevant theoretical analysis of constructing a solid mineral exploration risk investment system 1. Characteristics of venture capital and solid mineral exploration The so-called venture capital refers to the investment of funds by professional financiers into small and medium-sized enterprises with great potential and high risks, and at the same time participate in

The invested enterprise shall be managed to a certain extent, and the invested enterprise shall be withdrawn when the conditions are mature, and the original investment and its income shall be recovered.

Venture capital usually has the following characteristics: first, the invested enterprise has the characteristics of high risk and high return; second, it is a long-term equity investment; third, it generally requires active participation in the management of the invested enterprise and intervention.

Enterprise decision-making process; Fourth, after the invested enterprise reaches a certain maturity stage, venture investors must recover their investment through an effective exit mechanism and obtain a higher rate of return.

Mineral resource exploration is the prelude to mineral resource mining. In the mineral resource classification framework recommended by the United Nations in 1997, the exploration stage is divided into: exploration - general exploration - general exploration - detailed exploration; according to the Solid Mineral Resources/ According to the national standard for reserve classification (GB/T17766-1999), my country's mineral exploration is also divided into four corresponding stages: pre-exploration (footprint exploration) - general exploration - detailed exploration (general exploration) - exploration (detailed exploration).

Mineral exploration investment is essentially a high-risk investment, which is determined by the following characteristics of mineral exploration work: first, the natural prospecting risk is high; second, the investment recovery cycle is long, and the response to the market is relatively lagging;

Third, the mining and development of mines must be based on mineral exploration; fourth, once effective mineral resource reserves are discovered, the potential benefits will generally be high.

It is these characteristics that determine the necessity and rationality of establishing a solid mineral exploration risk investment system.

2. The necessity of establishing a solid mineral exploration risk investment system. Venture investment is aimed at high-risk, high-yield small and medium-sized enterprises. Therefore, in establishing my country's solid mineral exploration risk investment system, small and medium-sized enterprises that carry out solid mineral exploration work still have their own advantages. rationality of existence.

By analyzing the mature mining markets in some international countries, it can be found that mining companies are mainly divided into three categories: large mining companies, small and medium-sized mining companies, and professional service and consulting companies.

Small and medium-sized mining companies are mostly mineral exploration companies. Their main business is to discover mineral deposits with recoverable economic value, and they gather funds and technologies from all parties to apply them in mineral exploration activities.

These small and medium-sized exploration companies play a key role in mineral exploration and are the main discoverers of economic mineral deposits.

For example, an analysis of metal mineral exploration in Ontario, Canada, showed that although small companies accounted for only 28% of total exploration expenses, they accounted for 62% of the economic deposits discovered.

What is even more surprising is that the potential value of these deposits is estimated to be greater than the potential value of all other deposits in the province.

That is, the potential value of the remaining economic deposits discovered by large companies is less than the potential value of deposits discovered by small and medium-sized enterprises.

The soft budget constraint theory proposed by Kornet can be used to explain this phenomenon.