China unlocks vast strategic mineral reserves through reassessment

China significantly expanded its confirmed reserves of strategic minerals during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25) by reassessing associated, low-grade and previously difficult-to-extract resources, laying a stronger foundation for safeguarding national mineral resource security, the Ministry of Natural Resources said at a news conference in Beijing on Saturday.

The initiative more than tripled the country's identified rhenium reserves, with the metal widely used in the aerospace industry. Newly identified gold resources were equivalent to those of 50 large deposits, while the increase in nickel resources was equivalent to 30 large deposits.

Resources of gallium, a key material for semiconductors; indium, widely used in optoelectronics and optical communications; tantalum, vital to the electronics industry; and vanadium, known as the "vitamin of metals" for its ability to improve strength, toughness, wear resistance and high-temperature performance, each increased by an amount equivalent to more than 10 large deposits.

Qiao Chunlei, deputy director-general of the ministry's department of mineral resources protection and supervision, said China is rich in mineral resources overall, but many deposits are relatively low-grade and contain multiple associated minerals rather than a single principal commodity.

"In the past, limited processing technology left large volumes of resources classified as 'dormant ore'. To secure energy and resource supplies, we must both explore new deposits and unlock existing stock," Qiao said.

The reassessment aims to "turn dormant ore into active ore, small deposits into larger ones, and single-metal mines into multi-metal recovery systems", he said.

In 2024, the ministry organized 2,000 survey personnel from 100 institutions to reassess 17 strategic minerals: gallium, germanium, indium, chromite, nickel, cobalt, zircon, hafnium, niobium, tantalum, vanadium, rare earths, rhenium, sylvite, gold, manganese and helium.

Over the course of a year, more than 1,800 operating mines and large- and medium-sized mining areas were reviewed to determine the extent to which low-grade and associated mineral resources could be economically recovered using existing technologies.

Qiao cited a manganese mine in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region as an example. By integrating decades of exploration, mining and mineral-processing test data, the mine revised its industrial criteria, demonstrating that low-grade carbonate manganese, long considered uneconomical to exploit, could now be developed commercially. The reassessment added more than 50 million metric tons to its resource base.

Qiao said the previous round of work had established a mature technical approach to reserve reassessment, providing a foundation for a new round launched during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-30).

The latest initiative covers all strategic minerals, as well as key minerals including silver, sulfur, kaolin, arsenic, selenium, pyrophyllite and strontium. It also encompasses all operating mines and large- and medium-sized mining areas.

The aim is to gain a more accurate understanding of the country's mineral resource potential and further strengthen its mineral resource security, Qiao said.