BEIJING -- Fifty major ore fields have been found over the past four years since China set up a special fund to help geologists survey the country's minerals amid growing demands for resources, an official who manages the fund said Wednesday.

Cheng Liwei, director of the China Central Geological Survey Fund Management Center, said the geological discoveries have helped relieve China's tight resource supplies, without disclosing the reserves and types of those mines.

Related readings:  China to form 100m-ton-level iron ore miners  Iron ore monopoly may end by 2015  Spot iron ore prices forecast to stay high  China to set national standard for imported iron ore

Cheng said about 1.9 billion yuan ($293 million) had been invested by the fund to support 188 geological exploration projects in 26 provinces and autonomous regions since the fund was founded in 2007.

Coal, uranium, iron ore, copper, aluminum and sylvinite mines were eagerly pursued by the fund in the past years, he said.

China, a country hungry for iron ore, is ramping up its mineral exploitation efforts and upgrading its industrial structure as soaring prices of commodity imports undermine its competitiveness.

For example, China produces more than a third of the world's steel and imports 68 percent of the world's steel shipments.

Facing a gloomy reality, the Chinese government and steel enterprises are strengthening diversity of iron ore supplies. They are also looking for iron ore deposits in more locations while exploiting domestic deposits.