China hails mineral finds amid push for security of supply chain, energy and nation

Ministry of Natural Resources lists haul of gold, copper, molybdenum, phosphorite and fluorite key to future of defence and geopolitics

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China’s Ministry of Natural Resources says it has discovered new deposits of minerals, including gold, copper, molybdenum, phosphorite and fluorite. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 12:00pm, 2 Nov 2024

China has reported “prominent results” in its hunt for green-energy minerals, with the Ministry of Natural Resources saying new deposits of the resources deemed crucial for national security had been discovered.

Among those at the top of the list released by the ministry last week were gold, copper, molybdenum, phosphorite and fluorite – minerals important for clean energy, semiconductors, quantum and other industries key in the competition between Washington and Beijing for tech supremacy.

“In the first three-quarters of this year, we made new significant discoveries of a batch of large-scale mines with verified deposits,” the ministry said. “It has significant meaning for our supply chain security, energy security and national security.”

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It said that more than 57 tonnes of gold, 3.8 million tonnes of copper and 137,000 tonnes of molybdenum reserves were found in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang. A total of 446 million tonnes of phosphorite reserves was detected in the southwestern provinces of Sichuan and Guizhou, while a combined 6.9 million tonnes of fluorite was found in Inner Mongolia in the north and Zhejiang in the east.

The finds are part of a “mineral hunting” initiative launched in 2021 that aims for breakthroughs within 15 years in the search for crucial minerals that will determine the future of manufacturing, emerging technologies and the defence industry, as well as the geopolitical landscape.

China is not a world leader in reserves of most minerals but it does have the biggest shares of natural graphite and rare earths.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), China has 28 per cent of the world’s reserves of natural graphite, a major anode material in lithium-ion batteries.

It also has 38 per cent of the globe’s rare earth reserves, which are widely used for electronic generators in wind turbines, lasers and precision-guided missile systems.