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Abstract Achievements and shortcomings of geochemlcal exploration in China inthe 1980s are reviewed with aim to better strategic planning of geochemicalexploration research and development works toward the Year 2000.China's national geochemical mapping project （Regional Geochemistry-Reconnaissance RM Project） has been very successful in the 1980s. About4 million km2 of China's territory have been covered by this project. Morethan 600 new mineral occurrences and 158 new economic mineral deposits havebeen discovered. Optimum sampling methods for arid, semi-arid, igh mou-ntains, karst and loess-covered terains have been developed. Effective multi-element analytical systems and data quality monitoring procedure have beenworked out. All these make China ahead of the world in systematic geochemi-cal mapping. The main shortcoming is that the research imputs have becomelesser and the project has changed more and more into purely routine opera-tions in the later half of 1980s.That geochemical mapping will be one of the most important researchfrontiers in geosciences and exploration geochemistry has been acknowledgedby many prominent earth scientists of the world. The preponderance intechnics developed and information accumulated in this field of study isproviding exciting opportunities for Chinese exploration geochemists in the1990s. Some important and promising research topics are briefly suggested.
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