SunSirs: Global Mining Accelerates Transformation Toward Greening, Intelligence, and Full-Chain Integration

According to China Mining News, as the pace of energy transition accelerates, the restructuring of global mining industry chains and supply chains deepens. Under the new cycle, structural contradictions in mining supply and demand intensify, while technological innovation, global governance, and green sustainability inject new momentum into the high-quality development of the mining sector. Overall, the global mining industry is accelerating its transformation toward greening, intelligence, and full-chain integration.

01 Global Economy Shows “Weak and Uneven” Growth, Deepening Divergence in Energy Resource Production, Consumption, and Trade

Since 2024, the global economy has entered a period of “low-normal” growth, with significant disparities in growth rates among countries and regions. On one hand, geopolitical risks compounded by protectionist waves, coupled with high global debt growth, have intensified imbalances in global energy and resource supply and demand. On the other hand, while global inflation has effectively moderated and the manufacturing landscape is accelerating its transformation and upgrading, economic performance varies across economies, leading to profound restructuring of industrial and supply chains.

Overall, global energy and resource production and consumption continue to grow, while the volume of major mineral trade has generally decreased. Among these, the growth rate of energy mineral supply and demand has slowed, maintaining an overall tight balance. Among bulk solid minerals: - Iron ore supply and demand both declined, increasing the surplus. - Copper supply and demand continued to grow, widening the supply gap. - Aluminum supply and demand both rose, reducing the surplus. - Zinc supply and demand both fell, shifting to a supply shortage. Strategic emerging minerals saw rapid growth in both supply and demand, all exhibiting oversupply. For precious metals: - Gold supply and demand both increased, yet remained oversupplied. while silver supply decreased and demand increased, maintaining a high supply gap; platinum saw both supply and demand rise, deepening its supply shortage. Agricultural mineral supply and demand both increased, with potassium fertilizer supply surplus widening and phosphate fertilizer supply surplus narrowing. China's mineral resource supply and consumption grew significantly, accelerating structural adjustments in supply and demand, and continuing to make new contributions to global mining development.

02 Exploration Investment, Drilling Activities, and Large-Scale Mining Projects Continue to Decline

In 2024, global exploration investment for major solid minerals continued to decline to US$12.48 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 3.3%. Gold and copper exploration investment remained dominant, while lithium exploration investment reached a new historical high. Latin America emerged as a hotspot for exploration investment, with large and small mining companies serving as the primary sources of global exploration investment for major solid minerals.

Global drilling activity for major solid minerals continued its downward trend, with the total number of drilling projects and total drill holes decreasing by 19.9% and 15.3% year-on-year, respectively. Among these, drilling projects for strategic emerging minerals saw the largest decline, followed by bulk solid minerals, while precious metals experienced the smallest decrease. The concentration of mineral types in solid mineral drilling projects increased. The proportion of drilling projects for precious metals and bulk solid minerals among all implemented projects rose, collectively accounting for over 80%. Gold drilling projects remained dominant in total implemented projects, while the share of strategic emerging mineral projects decreased.

In 2024, the global total of large-scale mining projects reached 1,813, a year-on-year decrease of 1.4%. These projects were primarily concentrated in the Asia-Pacific region, accounting for 46.4% of the global total.

03 Mineral Product Prices Show Significant Divergence; Mining Companies' Stock Prices and Profits Generally Decline; Mining Financing and M&A Markets Both Cool Down

In 2024, global prices for major mineral products diverged significantly. Influenced by geopolitical factors and production cut policies by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies (OPEC+), energy mineral prices generally peaked before falling back, with coal's average price dropping by over 20% compared to 2023. Prices of bulk solid minerals experienced heightened volatility, with iron ore prices plunging over 30% during the year, while copper, aluminum, and zinc prices saw slight increases. Strategic emerging minerals faced strong supply but weak demand, leading to sustained downward pressure on prices. Agricultural mineral prices initially declined before rebounding, signaling a gradual market recovery.

Global major mining companies' stock prices generally weakened and trended downward with volatility. Among them, global major oil and gas companies' stock prices remained relatively stable; major solid mineral companies' stock prices generally fluctuated downward, with an average decline of nearly 30%; companies primarily engaged in gold saw wide price swings but overall gains; major strategic emerging mineral companies' stock prices generally fell, with significant inter-company variations; and companies primarily engaged in potash generally saw declining stock prices.

The global financing and M&A transaction markets for major solid minerals continued to cool. In 2024, global financing for major solid minerals totaled $10.27 billion, down 11.7% year-on-year. Financing for strategic emerging minerals and bulk solid minerals saw significant declines, falling 37.1% and 12.1% respectively. Gold financing bucked the trend, rising 7.3% year-on-year due to its safe-haven attributes. Global M&A transaction value and deal volume experienced notable declines. The 2024 M&A transaction value reached $29.35 billion, down 42.6% year-on-year, while the number of M&A deals totaled 685, a 31.8% decrease. Notably, M&A transaction value surged substantially in Europe and North America, while traditional hotspots like Oceania and Asia witnessed sharp contractions. M&A activity for minerals including gold, copper, iron, nickel, and cobalt experienced significant declines.

04 Threshold for Global Top 50 Mining Companies' Total Market Value Rises, Sustainability Focus Continues to Grow

Currently, precious metals and diversified enterprises dominate the Global Top 50 Mining Companies, with 17 and 9 companies respectively in Q2 2025, while the number of bulk minerals and strategic emerging minerals enterprises saw a slight decline. Driven by macroeconomic factors, energy transition, and geopolitical tensions, precious metals companies demonstrated robust performance with both volume and price increases. In Q2 2025, the total market capitalization of precious metals firms among the Global Top 50 Mining Companies reached $377.7 billion, marking a 76.7% increase from Q4 2024.

Sustainability has increasingly become a focal issue in global mining development and is regarded as the primary challenge facing the industry. It is a critical factor affecting the long-term survival and competitiveness of mining enterprises. International mining companies are adopting an Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) orientation, using market mechanisms to quantify corporate sustainable value. China's domestic mining sector is guided by the “dual carbon” goals, leveraging initiatives such as green mine construction to achieve sustainable development in the mining field.

05 Critical Minerals Emerge as Vital Components of National Security, Triggering Frequent Adjustments to Resource Strategies and Mining Policies

Since 2024, the international landscape has been marked by turbulence, with uneven global economic recovery. Escalating geopolitical risks and rising global trade protectionism have intensified international trade barriers. Amid the deepening global energy transition and new technological revolution, critical minerals have become vital components of national security and resource strategies. Intensified resource competition has shaped the global landscape of cooperation and rivalry in critical minerals, characterized by supply chain bloc formation, industrial chain localization, and sustainable investment models. Major developed economies are intensifying global resource competition to secure their critical mineral supply chains through measures such as updating critical mineral lists, expanding international alliances, imposing import tariffs, strengthening foreign investment reviews, and leading the development of global standards like ESG. Resource-rich developing countries are continuously improving their mineral resource governance frameworks and driving the transformation and upgrading of their mining industries through measures such as promoting legal reviews and revisions of mining laws, deepening reforms of mining administration systems, and increasing emphasis on ESG practices.

06 New Technologies Like Artificial Intelligence Empower High-Quality Development in Mining, Reshaping Industry Paradigms Through Intelligence and Sustainability

As the global energy transition and new technological revolution advance, mining exploration and development technologies and equipment have become crucial safeguards for nations to maintain the security of mineral resource supply chains.

Since 2024, emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), big data, and the Internet of Things (IoT) have accelerated the global mining industry's digital, intelligent, and green transformation. AI technologies for exploration big data have rapidly evolved into essential tools for analyzing geophysical and geochemical data and extracting mineralization anomaly information. Their application across various exploration scenarios continues to mature, though challenges in databases and AI models remain to be overcome. Geophysical technology equipment is evolving toward comprehensive and integrated systems, with the three-dimensional remote sensing mineral exploration technology system—spanning space, air, and ground—gradually maturing. Driven by AI and new energy technologies, the intelligent and green transformation of mines continues to advance, promoting the high-level development and utilization of mineral resources.

Major countries and regions worldwide are intensifying efforts to build mineral resource recycling technology systems, with continuous progress in the application of recycling technologies for popular resources like rare earths and lithium.

07 Summary and Outlook

Over the past five years, the global mining industry has navigated a new cycle marked by the COVID-19 pandemic, escalating geopolitical conflicts, and accelerated energy transitions and technological revolutions. Resource competition among major powers has intensified. Amid multiple uncertainties, the industry has progressed with difficulty, experiencing heightened restructuring and regional divergence. Mineral resource supply and consumption have continued to grow, while mineral product prices have generally declined, leading to reduced profitability across the sector. Under geopolitical pressures, the global mining industry's supply chains underwent profound restructuring. Developed nations advanced supply chain regionalization and industrial localization through trade barriers, strengthened resource alliances, and weaponized compliance standards. Rising resource-rich nation nationalism, heightened export controls, and divergent mining policies further fragmented global markets. This shifted the core of global mining competition from “scale expansion + efficiency priority” to “resilient restructuring + secure control” of industrial chains and supply chains. In this new mining development cycle, global mineral resource supply-demand dynamics reveal contradictions: diverging demand between traditional bulk minerals and new energy minerals, short-term surplus and long-term scarcity in new energy minerals, and deep fragmentation of regional mining markets. The ongoing technological revolution and industrial transformation—driven by AI, big data, and IoT—injects robust momentum into the mining sector's high-quality development, comprehensively propelling its intelligent and green transformation.

Over the next five years, as demand for new energy minerals continues to expand, strategic competition among major powers in the mining sector will intensify. Resilience-oriented approaches will supplant efficiency-first principles, with redundant reserves and diversified supply chains becoming strategic imperatives. Technological innovation will drive a paradigm shift in global mining, transforming it from a labor-intensive industry into a technology-intensive sector characterized by data-driven, intelligent, and green sustainable operations. The century-long transformation will reshape the global resource governance landscape, ushering in a new era characterized by more diverse governance actors, accelerated evolution of governance rules, and significantly enhanced governance effectiveness. Countries should strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation in critical mineral sectors, jointly safeguard the stability and smooth operation of industrial and supply chains, and work together to build a community with a shared future for the mining industry. This will help resolve global resource challenges, achieve sustainable development, and contribute to global economic growth.

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