Construction of green mines from the perspective of the new Mineral Resources Law: policy evolution, legislative breakthroughs, and optimization pathways

Over the past decade, China’s green mine construction has evolved in tandem with policy advancements, transitioning from pilot demonstrations to comprehensive governance. This paper systematically examines the evolutionary path from policy transformation to legislative breakthroughs in green mine construction, focusing on the institutional innovations and implementation challenges of the Mineral Resources Law（2024 Revision）, and explores collaborative pathways to address the “last-mile” dilemmas in green mine development. Employing policy text analysis and institutional comparison, the research systematically reviews the dynamic adjustment logic of green mine policies across objectives, stakeholders, and instruments since 2007, revealing structural contradictions between policy completeness and legal gaps. Under the dilemma of “policy enthusiasm versus legal inertia”, the new Mineral Resources Law institutionalizes green development principles through “policy legalization”, embedding sustainability into the entire lifecycle of mining operations. However, it faces three implementation bottlenecks: legal inconsistencies, corporate compliance cost pressures, and technological adaptation gaps. From a “legal-economic-technical” tripartite coordination perspective, this paper proposes optimizing pathways, including building a “multi-dimensional institutional network” to resolve legal conflicts, designing “graded incentive systems” to alleviate cost burdens, and establishing “hierarchical adaptation mechanisms” to bridge technological divides. Findings indicate that while the new Mineral Resources Law addresses the flexibility shortcomings of policies through a rigid legal framework, its governance efficacy depends on legislative coordination, cost-sharing mechanisms, and technological collaboration. This research provides theoretical insights into the dynamic policy-legal alignment challenges in mining green transition and offers actionable solutions for regulatory synergy, incentive compatibility, and technology inclusivity in implementing the new Mineral Resources Law, thereby contributing to advancing China’s mining ESG governance and dual-carbon goals.