China, the world's leader in mineral consumption and production, still has a large amount of unexplored mineral resources, despite recording a growing number of large-scale mines in the country.

According to China Daily, quoting figures from the Ministry of Land and Resources, only 36 per cent of the country's total mineral deposits had been discovered by the end of 2010.

Specifically, the exploration rate of China's iron ore stood at only 27 per cent, while bauxite was only at 19 per cent, the ministry said in a report.

Of the country's total petroleum oil deposits, only 26 per cent was prospected, while 85 per cent of natural gas reserves remained unmapped, the ministry added.

From 2006 to 2010, China's coal output grew 28 per cent to 2.53 billion metric tons, while crude oil output soared 10 per cent to 203 million metric tons, said Zhang Hongtao, chief engineer at the Ministry of Land and Resources.

He added that China has spent $58.4 billion on geographical surveying and has found some 2,839 new mines and reserves in the past five years.

Meanwhile, the presence of large-scale mines rocketed to 4,684 from 3,331, representing a 40.6 per cent hike, the People's Daily Online said.

The figure resulted after China accomplished integrating 6,574 mining areas, including iron, copper, aluminum and other important minerals. At least 58,809 mining rights were involved, accounting 40 per cent of total mining rights in China.

China's mining rights were effectively reduced by 44 per cent, according to Wang Min of the Ministry of Land and Resources.

The total number of mines of the world's second-fastest growing economy fell to to 113,000 in 2010 from 127,000 in 2005. Solid mine output, meanwhile, grew by 3.8 billion tons since 2005, achieving 9 billion in 2010.

The number of coal mines decreased from 18,000 to 13,000.