Efficiency analysis of geological exploration, mineral production, and land restoration in China's provinces under natural change

Tzu-Han Chang, Yung-ho Chiu, Hsiang-Yue Chen, Long Yeh and Li Ji

Energy & Environment, 2026, vol. 37, issue 5, 2865-2894

Abstract: China is one of the world's largest producers of mineral resources and possesses abundant mineral reserves, and its mining industry thus plays a crucial role in the country's economic development. However, most studies overlook the importance of geological exploration activities preceding mineral production and the impact of land restoration on said production under external environmental factors. Therefore, this research utilizes the meta recycle undesirable dynamic three-stage directional distance function (DDF) under exogenous model to investigate geological exploration stage efficiency, mineral production stage efficiency, and land restoration stage efficiency in different regions of China. The research findings are as follows. (a) The overall efficiency in the east region surpasses that of the other regions. (b) The central region exhibits the lowest efficiency in the geological exploration stage and mineral production stage. (c) Land restoration stage efficiency in all regions needs improvement due to the impact of precipitation.

Keywords: Technology gap ratio; recycle environmental performance; geological exploration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:engenv:v:37:y:2026:i:5:p:2865-2894

DOI: 10.1177/0958305X241304019

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