Minister calls for more mineral exploration

China aims to step up its exploration of mineral resources to bolster its reserves and production amid growing international supply risks, a senior official said.

In a signed article in Wednesday's Economic Daily, Natural Resources Minister Wang Guanghua said being the world's largest producer, consumer and trader of mineral resources, China will see growing demand for strategic mineral resources in quantity and variety.

In recent years, China's strategic mineral resources, such as oil and iron ore, have seen a continuous dependence on imports, leading to a rapid escalation of international supply risks, he said.

As China's strategic emerging industries develop rapidly, and as efforts to achieve peak carbon dioxide emission and carbon neutrality steadily progress, the structural dynamics of strategic mineral resource demand are changing. Consumption of resources like iron ore, manganese and aluminum is expected to remain at high levels, while the demand for minerals like lithium, cobalt and nickel, which are essential for clean energy and emerging industries, will continue to grow rapidly, he said.

Faced with profound changes in the domestic and international environment, China should uphold the strategic baseline for domestic production self-sufficiency of important strategic mineral resources, enhancing the construction of the national strategic material reserve system, and ensuring that the security of vital energy and mineral resources is based on our own capabilities, the minister said.

"The goal is to have these resources in our hands and to remain composed in our minds," he said.

According to the Ministry of Natural Resources, China's energy self-sufficiency rate, or the percentage of energy use that it produces domestically, reached 86.1 percent last year.

The country also increased investment in mineral exploration to 101 billion yuan ($13.8 billion) in 2022, achieving positive growth for two consecutive years.

The Ministry of Commerce imposed export restrictions on gallium and germanium, critical rare metals for the semiconductor industry, from Aug 1.