China: Critical Minerals Profile
Dominant global producer and processor of most critical minerals with unmatched refining capacity.
Overview
China's position in the global critical minerals landscape is without parallel. Through decades of sustained industrial policy, strategic investment, and willingness to accept environmental costs that other nations would not tolerate, China has built a commanding position across the entire value chain for most critical minerals. The country mines approximately 60% of the world's rare earths, 80% of the world's gallium, and is the dominant producer of graphite, tungsten, antimony, magnesium, silicon metal, and germanium. More significantly, China's dominance extends far beyond mining into the processing and refining stages where raw minerals are converted into battery-grade chemicals, permanent magnets, semiconductor substrates, and other high-value products. China processes over 90% of the world's rare earth oxides into metals and magnets, refines approximately 65% of global lithium into battery-grade compounds, and produces the vast majority of synthetic graphite for battery anodes.
Key Minerals and Resources
China's critical mineral profile is defined by its endowment of rare earths, gallium, germanium, graphite, tungsten, antimony, magnesium, and silicon. These minerals position the country as a significant global supplier in supply chains spanning the energy transition, advanced manufacturing, and defense sectors.
Mining and Production
China operates the world's largest and most diversified mining sector, with operations spanning rare earths in Inner Mongolia, Jiangxi, and Sichuan; tungsten in Jiangxi and Hunan; antimony in Hunan; graphite in Heilongjiang and Shandong; and numerous other minerals across the country. The mining sector is a mix of large state-owned enterprises and smaller private operators, with the government progressively consolidating rare earth mining under a few major groups including China Northern Rare Earth, China Southern Rare Earth (now merged into China Rare Earth Group), and others. China's mineral processing infrastructure is unmatched globally, with the country hosting the vast majority of the world's rare earth separation and refining capacity, lithium chemical conversion plants, graphite processing facilities, and gallium and germanium refining operations. Environmental regulation has tightened in recent years, leading to closures of smaller, more polluting operations, but the scale and efficiency of China's processing sector remains its key strategic advantage.
Policy and Regulation
China's mineral policy is characterized by comprehensive state direction of the entire value chain, from mining through processing to end-use manufacturing. The government designates strategic minerals, controls export licensing, sets production quotas for rare earths, and directs state-owned enterprises to invest in processing capacity both domestically and overseas. China has demonstrated willingness to use mineral export restrictions as geopolitical instruments, imposing controls on gallium and germanium exports in 2023 and antimony, graphite, and other materials in subsequent actions. Domestically, China's mineral policy emphasizes consolidation of mining operations, environmental remediation of legacy sites, technology upgrading, and strategic stockpile management. China's Belt and Road Initiative has facilitated significant Chinese investment in mineral assets across Africa, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, and South America, building a global resource network that reinforces China's mineral dominance.
International Partnerships
China's international mineral partnerships are primarily structured through commercial investment, Belt and Road Initiative financing, and state-to-state agreements rather than the alliance-based frameworks used by Western nations. Chinese state-owned and private companies have invested heavily in mineral assets across the Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia, Zimbabwe, Argentina, Chile, and numerous other countries, creating a global resource network that feeds China's domestic processing capacity. China maintains mineral cooperation agreements with most resource-rich developing nations and uses development finance from institutions including the China Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of China to facilitate mining investments. China's mineral partnerships often involve infrastructure development, technology transfer, and industrial processing investment in host countries, differentiating them from Western approaches that have historically focused on extractive operations.
Supply Chain Role
China plays an unparalleled role in global critical mineral supply chains, functioning simultaneously as a major miner, the dominant processor and refiner, and the largest manufacturer of products incorporating critical minerals. The country's control over midstream processing creates a chokepoint that virtually every global supply chain must pass through. For minerals like rare earths, gallium, germanium, and graphite, China's processing share exceeds 60-90%, meaning that even minerals mined in Australia, Africa, or the Americas are frequently shipped to China for conversion into usable forms. This processing dominance gives China greater supply chain leverage than mining alone would provide, as building alternative processing capacity requires billions of dollars of investment, years of construction, and specialized technical expertise that is currently concentrated in Chinese firms. China's willingness to impose export restrictions on processed minerals has demonstrated the strategic risk this concentration creates for consuming nations and has catalyzed the global effort to build alternative supply chains.
Related Country Profiles
Explore profiles of other nations that share regional ties or overlapping mineral endowments with China.
United States
North AmericaWorld's largest consumer of critical minerals driving reshoring and supply chain diversification policies.
Australia
OceaniaGlobal mining powerhouse and largest lithium producer pursuing downstream processing expansion.
European Union
EuropeMajor consumer pursuing strategic autonomy through the Critical Raw Materials Act and diversification targets.
United Kingdom
EuropeHistoric mining nation rebuilding critical mineral capabilities through domestic projects and global partnerships.
Japan
East AsiaHighly import-dependent technology manufacturer leading in strategic stockpiling and recycling innovation.
South Korea
East AsiaMajor battery and semiconductor manufacturer securing supply through aggressive overseas investment strategies.