According to the latest data on China's mineral resources, the country possesses the world's largest reserves of fourteen mineral resources. These include rare earth elements, tungsten, tin, molybdenum, antimony, gallium, germanium, indium, fluorite, and graphite.

Since the launch of a new phase of strategic actions for breakthroughs in mineral exploration in 2021, China has demonstrated significant growth in its mineral resource reserves. Ministry officials reported this at a press conference in Beijing on Wednesday.

A total of 398 new large and medium-sized strategic mineral deposits have been discovered, including oil and gas fields. Historic breakthroughs have been achieved in the exploration of key minerals such as copper, gold, and potash. Significant progress has also been made in the exploration of strategically important new minerals — lithium, helium, and high-purity quartz. These achievements have significantly strengthened China's capacity to ensure independent resource security.

Xiong Zili, director of the Geological Exploration and Management Department at the Ministry of Natural Resources, stated that the significant increase in resource reserves is directly linked to systematic exploration efforts. These efforts are aimed at finding critically scarce and strategically important minerals under the strategic program of breakthrough exploration research. This lays a solid foundation for achieving independent and controllable resource security.

China's mineral production output in 2025 reached approximately 32.7 trillion yuan. This is about 4.77 trillion US dollars. This figure accounts for more than 23 percent of the country's GDP. It underscores China's position as the world's largest producer, processor, and refiner of mineral resources.

In 2025, the country also ranked first in the world in the production of seventeen mineral resources. These include coal, vanadium, titanium, zinc, rare earth elements, tungsten, tin, molybdenum, antimony, gallium, indium, gold, and tellurium.