A source with the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council said China may proportionately restrict reckless investments in fossil resources at home and abroad by China’s state-owned enterprises (SOE) with mining operations billed as their non-core businesses. But the policy of encouraging further mining investments by SOEs will remain in place.

The source said a few affluent central government-controlled firms are in rush to paw at mining assets under the cover of portfolio transformation because of coveted benefits amid strong demand for mineral resources.

Those risks are perhaps threefold: causing undue competition among SOEs when they bid for the same overseas tender, unexpected losses and assets devaluation due to opaque and loose management regulations and possible labor disputes.

The commission will tighten approval on investments in mining assets by SOEs whose main businesses have little to do with resources exploration. Performance-related promotion system will also be improved to observe this principle.