Following the freezing of the exploitation of gold dust, Tibet Autonomous Region Government has now decided to ban the exploitation of iron sand across the region.

Tibet has made achievements in recent years in the regulation of the mine resource development, but due to benefit-driven approvals of iron sand exploitation in some areas, disordered exploitations have been rampant in the region, which has seriously disturbed the normal resource development order and brought bad effects to the environment.

In order to maintain the normal order in exploring mine resources, protect the environment and promote social stability and harmony, Tibet decided to ban the exploitation of iron sand, including some other heavy minerals, in the whole region starting January 1, 2008. In the meantime, the autonomous regional government required that government at various levels to conduct a thorough check on all the mining sites under their jurisdiction and urge the removal of all mining enterprises and equipment from the region within a given period and recover the environment of the mining areas that has been damaged.

Tibet has rich mineral resource and fragile environment. In 2007, it issued a rule to ban the exploitation of gold dust across the region.