The Industrial Clusters Of Mineral Resources In China

With the rapid economic development, China is facing a comparatively short supply of mineral resources after the relatively long-term developmental stage that is based on the consumption of mineral resources. Contradictions among the population, resources, the environment and developments have arisen. Therefore, under the constraint conditions of limited and non-renewable mineral resources, the mineral resources industry in China must adhere to sustainable development. In this thesis, the author aims to make explorations of this problem by conducting studies on the industrial clusters of mineral resources.The industrial clusters of mineral resources, common in many regions, are a reflection of the process of industrialization. It is the basis of economic growth for many countries or regions. By definition, it means the geographical concentration of economic activities of mineral resource-related industries and institutions in a certain region. These associated production departments, with different scales and different types, are closely connected with each other through criss-cross network relationships and then form a spatial cluster.There are few scholars who have conducted studies in the field of industrial clusters of mineral resources. In this thesis, the author tries to explain a series of questions as follows: What cause the emergence of the industrial clusters of mineral resources? Should the regions competitive in the industrial clusters of mineral resources necessarily be the ones rich in mineral resources? What are the similarities and differences between the industrial clusters of mineral resources and other industrial clusters? What kind of models and instruments can be applied to dissect the industrial chain structure of the industrial clusters of mineral resources, so as to explain existing phenomenon and solve existing problems?In this thesis, the author attempts to quantitatively analyze the concept of industrial clusters of mineral resources with the input-output method, and explain its characteristics by employing the coefficients and indicators of the input-output method. In order to better deconstruct the industrial clusters of mineral resources, the author adopts social networks theory in the category of Social, instead of statistical analysis technique popular in Economics and Principles of Management, to carry out the research; moreover, the author combines this theory with the input-output method, and studies the structure characteristics of industrial clusters of mineral resources with this brand-new combined method. The author also maps the network structure of industrial clusters of mineral resources, calculates its technique feature values to probe the economic significations. During the process of empirical researches and case studies, the author makes horizontal comparisons of mineral resources industry development in China, Canada and Japan, and vertical comparisons of industrial clusters of mineral resources in some representative regions in China, including Shanghai, Hainan and Shanxi.In a word, in this thesis, the author validates the correlation between the social networks theory and cluster economy through the calculation of a large amount of data, provides a theoretical basis for combined application of these two methods of two different fields, carries out researches under the guidance of the new method. The author also proposes constructive suggestions to the development of industrial clusters of mineral resources in China.