Mining and Metallurgy

Fixed-asset investments and geological prospecting input in 45 major minerals needed in China decreased for 4 consecutive years during 2011-2015 (Note: 45 major minerals refer to minerals generally regarded as indispensable in industrial processes). Other factors such as the sluggish mining right market and the drastic reduction in social investment have also led to the slowdown in the growth of resource reserves.

Through intensifying efforts in basic geological work and optimizing the geological prospecting input structure, the overall proven resource reserves of minerals in China increased in 2016. Great progress was made in the prospecting of some important minerals such as coal, crude oil, natural gas, wolfram ores, gold ores, phosphate rock and crystalline graphite, etc. New resource reserves of oil/gas minerals are mainly distributed in the Erdos Basin, the Bohai Sea Area, the Sichuan Basin and the Tarim Basin. New resource reserves of non-oil/gas minerals are mainly distributed in Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Guizhou, Shandong, Hubei, Jiangxi, Hunan, Yunnan and Anhui.

By the end of 2016, the proven reserves of major minerals in China further increased, but the growth slowed down. 172 minerals are already discovered in China. Of the total, 162 minerals or 230 sub-minerals have proven reserves. Except for uranium, thorium, terrestrial heat, underground water, mineral water and rare earth minerals (10 varieties), the proven reserves of the other 215 sub-minerals further increased in 2016 compared with the previous year, but the growth was a little lower. The proven reserves of 106 sub-minerals increased, that of 59 sub-minerals decreased and 50 sub-minerals remained the same.

In 2016, changes in reserves of some strategic minerals in China were as follows. The proven reserves of coal were 1.6 trillion tons, an increase of 2.0% over the previous year. 3 mining areas were found to have new proven reserves of over 4 billion tons. The remaining technically recoverable reserves of oil were 3.501 billion tons, up 0.1% over the previous year. 2 oilfields were found to have new proven geological reserves of over 100 million tons. The remaining technically recoverable reserves of natural gas were 5.44 trillion m³, an increase of 4.7% over the previous year. 2 gas fields were discovered to have new proven geological reserves of over 100 billion m³. Major progress has been made in the prospecting and development of shale gas, which has led to rapid development of the sector. The remaining technically recoverable reserves of shale gas were 122.413 billion m³, a decrease of 6.0% from the previous year. The proven reserves of copper ores exceeded 100 million tons for the first time in history (101 million tons), an increase of 2.0% over the previous year. 2 mining areas were found to have over 500kt new proven reserves. The proven reserves of tungsten ores reached 10.16 million tons, an increase of 6.0% over the previous year. 2 mining areas were found to have more than 100kt new reserves. The proven reserves of gold ores were 12.2kt, an increase of 5.2% over the previous year and 4 mining areas were found to have more than 50 tons of new proven reserves. Crystalline graphite is an important raw material for strategic emerging sectors. In 2016, the proven reserves of crystalline graphite reached 300 million tons, an increase of 15.4% over the previous year and 2 mining areas were found to have over 5 million tons of new proven reserves.

In 2016, the output of iron ores in China was 1.281 billion tons, a decrease of 15.4% from 2014 (the output hit a record high in 2014, reaching 1.514 billion tons. Imports reached 1.024 billion tons in the year, up 9.8% from 2014 (933 million tons).

According to researches made by relevant departments, by 2020, 45 major minerals that are needed in China can be roughly classified into 4 categories: minerals with guaranteed supply, minerals with basically guaranteed supply, minerals in shortage and minerals in serious shortage.

24 minerals with guaranteed supply are: coal, natural gas, tungsten, molybdenum, silver, rare earth, magnesite, fluorite, refractory clay, phosphorus, barite, masonry cement, glass-making siliceous rock, gypsum, kaolin, stone, diatomite, sodium salts, Glauber salt, bentonite, graphite, asbestos, talc and wollastonite.

2 minerals with basically guaranteed supply: titanium and sulfur.

10 minerals in short supply: petroleum, uranium, iron, manganese, bauxite, tin, lead, nickel, antimony and gold.

9 minerals in serious shortage: chromium, copper, zinc, cobalt, platinum group elements, strontium, potassium, boron and diamond.

In China, reserves of minerals with high demand in the economic development such as copper, aluminum, lead, zinc and nickel account for a small percentage in the world. The proportion is 3.9% for copper, 2.3% for aluminum, 12.6% for lead, 11.8% for zinc and 4.0% for nickel. They are minerals in shortage or in acute shortage or deficiency in China.