China checked more than 125,000 cases of illegal mining in the past three years amid a crackdown on illegal resource exploitation.

A bulk of the total are unlicensed mining cases, or 115,000 that have been uncovered since August 2005, the Minister of Land Resources (MLR) Xu Shaoshi told a tele-conference meeting on Thursday.

Other illegal activities including 1,350 unlicensed prospecting incidents and over 2,200 illegal exploitation rights transfers, he said. Chaos in resource development has not been rooted out with the re-working of many closed-mines still a rampant problem, he said.

China has launched three nationwide campaigns against illegal resource exploitation since mid 1990's. Profit-driven development has sacrificed resources and working safety to feed the thirst for mineral resources amid the economic modernization drive.

Xu said the ministry uncovered 12,700 cases of illegal mining last year, noting the resurgence of illegal activities in some areas is still rampant.

(Xinhua News Agency March 14, 2008)