Recently, the Geological Society of China announced the 2024 list of innovation base construction sites. Among them is the "Innovation Base for Metallogenic Regularity and Effective Exploration Technology of Hydrothermal Gold-Copper Polymetallic Deposits of the Geological Society of China," jointly applied for by the Kunming Natural Resources Comprehensive Survey Center of the China Geological Survey (referred to as the "Kunming Center") as lead applicant, together with Yunnan University and Beijing Judeng Geophysical Exploration Co., Ltd.

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This innovation base focuses on major strategic needs such as safeguarding national energy and resource security and securing strategic critical mineral resources. Grounded in the resource endowments and industrial foundations of the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau and its surrounding areas, it draws on the Kunming Center's more than 40 years of technical accumulation and achievements in metallogenic belts including the southwestern Sanjiang (southern section), the Nanpanjiang-Youjiang, and the southwestern margin of the Upper Yangtze. It systematically integrates the advantageous innovation resources of all participating units and, addressing a series of theoretical challenges and technical bottlenecks in the formation, exploration, and development of hydrothermal gold-copper polymetallic mineral resources, carries out work in three areas: theoretical research on metallogenic regularity, research and development of effective exploration technologies and methods, and application and promotion of results. The expected outcomes will provide strong technical support for the prospecting and exploration of hydrothermal gold-copper polymetallic deposits.

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Next, the Kunming Center will take the construction of the innovation base as an opportunity, committing itself to building a high-level innovation team in the field of mineral exploration and a science and technology innovation-oriented high-end think tank that empowers the high-quality development of the industry; to establishing a new high ground for theoretical research on hydrothermal gold-copper polymetallic mineralization and a source of original technologies for mineral exploration; and to building an integrated open exchange platform for "government, industry, academia, research, and application," thereby making every effort to advance the implementation of the new round of the strategic action for prospecting breakthroughs.