SunSirs: China Invests Nearly RMB 450 Billion in Mineral Exploration Since the 14th Five-Year Plan Period, Discovering 150 New Mineral Deposits Nationwide

Ministry of Natural Resources News, October 23: At the 2025 China International Mining Conference, the Ministry of Natural Resources released the China Mineral Resources Report (2025) (hereinafter referred to as the Report).

The Report indicates that in 2024, China's geological exploration investment reached 115.994 billion yuan, achieving positive growth for four consecutive years. Since the start of the 14th Five-Year Plan period, cumulative investment in mineral exploration has reached nearly 450 billion yuan. 150 new mineral deposits were discovered nationwide. The Report highlights new developments in China's mineral resource policies and regulations since 2024, progress in the new round of strategic actions for mineral exploration breakthroughs, new dynamics in mineral resource development, utilization, and protection alongside green mining development, as well as new achievements in technological innovation and international cooperation within the mineral resources sector.

The report indicates that China's new round of strategic mineral exploration breakthroughs has achieved significant progress, with a series of major discoveries made in key mineral belts and large oil and gas basins: In oil, gas, and mineral resources, multiple major breakthroughs were achieved in new stratigraphic units, new areas, and new types of deposits in the Tarim Basin, Junggar Basin, Sichuan Basin, and other regions. For non-oil and gas minerals, exploration for bulk minerals like copper, iron, and phosphate has yielded significant results, with substantial increases in resource reserves. Progress has been made in exploring strategic minerals such as lithium, zirconium, hafnium, rare earths, and helium, while China's resource advantages in tungsten, molybdenum, antimony, fluorite, and graphite have been further consolidated.

In 2024, 150 new mineral deposits were discovered nationwide, including 49 large-scale, 54 medium-scale, and 47 small-scale deposits. The mineral types with the highest number of new discoveries were common fluorite (9 deposits), lithium (8 deposits), gold (8 deposits), and iron ore (8 deposits).

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