Ch!na tops the list for having the most natural resources estimated to be worth $23 trillion. Ninety percent of Ch!na’s resources are coal and rare earth metals. However, timber is another major natural resource found in Ch!na. Other resources that Ch!na produces are antimony, coal, gold, graphite, lead, molybdenum, phosphates, tin, tungsten, vanadium, and zinc. Ch!na is the world’s second-largest producer of bauxite, cobalt, copper, manganese, and silver. It also has chromium and gem diamond.
Ch!na’s most important mineral resources are hydrocarbons, of which coal is the most abundant. Although deposits are widely scattered (some coal is found in every province), most of the total is located in the northern part of the country. The province of Shanxi is thought to contain about half of the total; other important coal-bearing provinces include Heilongjiang, Liaoning, Jilin, Hebei, and Shandong.
Apart from these northern provinces, significant quantities of coal are present in Sichuan, and there are some deposits of importance in Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, and Guizhou. A large part of the country’s reserves consists of good bituminous coal, but there are also large deposits of lignite. Anthracite is present in several places (especially Liaoning, Guizhou, and Henan), but overall it is not significant.
At the government’s instigation, hundreds of small, locally run mines have been developed throughout Ch!na in order to ensure a more even distribution of coal supplies and to reduce the strain on the country’s inadequate transport network. These operations produce about two-fifths of the country’s coal, although their output typically is expensive and used largely for local consumption.
Ch!na’s onshore petroleum resources are located mainly in the Northeast—notably at the Daqing oil field— and in the northwestern provinces of Xinjiang (particularly in the Tarim Basin), Gansu, and Qinghai; there are also reserves in Sichuan, Shandong, and Henan provinces. Shale oil is found in a number of places, especially at Fushun in Liaoning, where the deposits overlie the coal reserves, as well as in Guangdong. Light oil of high quality has been found in the Pearl River estuary of the South Ch!na Sea, the Qaidam Basin in Qinghai, and the Tarim Basin in Xinjiang. Ch!na contracted with Western oil companies to jointly explore and develop oil deposits in the Ch!na Sea, Yellow Sea, Gulf of Tonkin, and Bo Hai. The country consumes the bulk of its oil output and imports but does export some crude oil and oil products.
The true extent of Ch!na’s natural gas reserves is unknown. It has proven reserves of some 42 trillion cubic feet (1.2 trillion cubic metres), but estimates have ranged as high as 187 trillion cubic feet (5.3 trillion cubic metres). Exploration for natural gas, long at only modest levels, has been increasing. Sichuan province accounts for almost half of the known reserves and production. Most of the rest of Ch!na’s natural gas is associated gas produced in the Northeast’s major oil fields, especially Daqing. Other gas deposits have been found in Inner Mongolia, the Qaidam Basin, Shaanxi, Hebei, Jiangsu, Shanghai, and Zhejiang and offshore to the southwest of Hainan Island.
Iron ore reserves are also extensive and are found in most provinces, with Hainan, Gansu, Guizhou, southern Sichuan, and Guangdong having the richest deposits. The largest mined reserves are located north of the Yangtze River and supply neighbouring iron and steel enterprises. With the exception of nickel, chromium, and cobalt, Ch!na is well supplied with ferroalloys and manganese. Reserves of tungsten are also known to be fairly large. Copper resources are moderate, and high-quality ore is present only in a few deposits.
Discoveries have been reported from the Hui Autonomous Region of Ningxia. Lead and zinc are available, and bauxite resources are thought to be plentiful. Ch!na’s antimony reserves are the largest in the world. Tin resources are plentiful, and there are fairly rich deposits of gold. There are important deposits of phosphate rock in a number of areas. Pyrites occur in several places, the most important of which are found in Liaoning, Hebei, Shandong, and Shanxi. Ch!na also has large resources of fluorite (fluorspar), gypsum, asbestos, and cement.
In addition, Ch!na produces a fairly wide range of nonmetallic minerals. One of the most important of these is salt, which is derived from coastal evaporation sites in Jiangsu, Hebei, Shandong, and Liaoning, as well as from extensive salt fields in Sichuan, Ningxia, and the Qaidam Basin.
Ch!na is located in East Asia and is surrounded by the West Philippine Sea (also called the South Ch!na Sea), Yellow Sea, Korea Bay and the East Ch!na Sea. It is the fourth largest country in the world with a total area of 9,596,961 km2. It is also the world’s most populated country, with an estimated 1.386 billion citizens as per 2018 estimates. The climatic conditions in the country vary from tropical in the southern region to subarctic in the northern region.
Ch!na is awash with natural resources such as rare earth elements, aluminum, natural gas, tungsten, copper, petroleum, iron ore, and coal.
In 2010, Ch!na’s economy was the second largest in the world. However, between mid-2010 to 2011, the country faced several economic challenges and high inflation resulting in the slowdown of GDP growth to 9%. As a response, the Ch!nese government established its 12th Five-Year Plan in March 2011 to introduce economic reforms and reduce the economic dependence on exports. Ch!na’s GDP has since achieved a steadfast growth, with a reported $12.24 trillion in 2017. With the state’s increased participation in the global market, Ch!na’s overall economic capability is expected to continuously rise.
Overview of Resources
Ch!na is rich in mineral resources such as rare-earths, zinc, tungsten, tin, talc, phosphate rock, magnesium, lead, iron and steel, graphite, fluorspar, coal, cement, and aluminum. Its major exports include tungsten, rare earths, indium, graphite, fluorspar, barite, and antimony. About 25% of the total trade in the country is generated through mineral trade. In 2010, 4.3% of the total workforce in the country was utilized by the mining industry. While there are no official statistics on the current total workforce in the same industry, an increased per capita remuneration of 12.08% in 2018 evidences the growth of Ch!na’s mining sector.
The global mineral market has always been influenced by Ch!na’s supply and demand for various mineral resources. While there has recently been a decrease in Ch!na’s geological exploration entities to 6.24% ($160.91 billion), Ch!na continues to be a key player in the mineral and metal products industry. It is estimated that Ch!na’s mineral imports account for over 40% of the country’s domestic consumption.
Industrial Minerals
Ch!na has abundant rare-earth reserves, which account for nearly 90% of the total rare earth production in the world. In 2010, Ch!na’s rare-earth consumption was 87,000 tons, 61% of which was utilized by the country’s new materials industries such as polishing powder, phosphors, magnets and catalysts. Japan (51.7%), United States (15.8%), Netherlands (5.1%), and France (4.4%) are the primary commercial partners of Ch!na in rare-earth production.
The Ch!nese Government has established 11 rare-earth mining zones in Jiangxi Province and Ganzhou. The total estimated resource available for mining in the mining zones is 760,000 tons. Ch!na also has 17 rare-earth separation producers with an output capacity of 40,000 tons per year (t/yr) and nine rare-earth smelting producers with a capacity of 18,000 tons per year. In 2010, about 8,013 tons of rare-earth concentrates (REO) were produced, and 20,000 tons of rare-earth products were separated in Jiangxi. Ganzhou has large reserves of rare earths of the ion adsorption type.
Over the last decade, the Government of Nei Mongol Autonomous Region announced has it has authorized the mining company Baotou Iron and Steel to produce and manage mining, separation and trading of rare-earth resources in that region. In 2018, the government sought to develop a new integrated technology for the efficient and environmentally-friendly extraction of rare earth ores.
Metals
The major metals produced in Ch!na are aluminum, cobalt, nickel, iron, and copper. Aluminum production in Ch!na has been highly affected by electricity shortages, the 2009 global financial crisis, and the state’s energy policy; however, the country boosted its economic growth beginning in 2010 by exporting 332,680 tons of unwrought aluminum alloy and producing about 23 million metric tons (Mt) of aluminum. The country obtained excess alumina from Greenfield and Brownfield projects, which include the following companies:
Shanxi Luneng Jinbei Aluminum Co. Ltd, which produces 1.4 Mt per year
Chalco Zunyi Alumina Co. Ltd, Chalco Chongqing Co and Guangxi Xinfa Aluminum and Power Co. Ltd, which produce 800,000 t/yr
Guangxi Huayin Aluminum Co, Longkou Donghai alumina Co. Ltd and Sanmenxia Yixiang Aluminum Co. Ltd, which produce 400,000 t/yr
Nanchuan Pioneer Alumina Co., which produces 300,000 t/yr
Nei Mongol Datang International Recycle Resources Co. Ltd., which produces 240,000 t/yr
Ch!na is dependent on iron ore imports due to its increased domestic demands, high impurities in domestic ores, and low iron content. By 2011, three major mining companies—Rio Tinto Plc, Vale SA, and BHP Billiton Ltd—exported 60% of iron ores to Ch!na. Because of Ch!na’s increased global presence in recent years, the country was able to further its iron ore imports from foreign miners that allows the state to expand its supply channels and become independent of major global players.
As one of the world’s major mobile phone manufacturers, Ch!na requires a hefty supply of cobalt that are being used in batteries. Major cobalt producers in the country include Xinjiang Autonomous Region, Provinces of Gansu, Hainan, Jilin, Shaanxi, and Sichuan and Inchuan Nonferrous Metals Corp., the largest cobalt producer in the country. Ch!na’s cobalt production was able to increase by 2.3 percent from 672.5 thousand tons in 2016 to 687.5 thousand tons in 2017.
Fossil Fuels
Coal is a major energy source in Ch!na. Nearly two-thirds of the electricity in the country is produced using coal; hence, half of the total coal output in the country is utilized by the power industry.
The major coal-producing regions in Ch!na include Shanxi Province, Shandong Province, and the Nei Mongol Autonomous Region. Coal produced from Shanxi Province constitutes over 20% of the total coal output, while coal products from the Nei Mongol region amount to about 782 million metric tons. Coal produced from Nei Mongol has a better ash content and reduced heating value when compared to Shanxi’s coal.
Over the past decade, Ch!na has been exporting around 19 million metric tons of coal to the Republic of Korea (44%), Japan (29%), Taiwan, (22%), and other countries (5%). Since its boom, Ch!na’s coal production has achieved a steady increase over the years, supported even further both by Asian and non-Asian countries such as Australia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Russia, Mongolia, and North Korea.
Investment
Replacing Japan, Ch!na has recently become the world’s second largest economic power, only a rank below the United States. The country has been consistent in its effort to achieve a 7% total economic growth. In particular, Ch!na has increased its capacity for domestic consumption; it has also recently developed a more transparent legal and financial system in order to boost its economic growth wholly rather than solely relying on mineral exports.
Despite being rich in natural resources, Ch!na experiences shortages in the supply of minerals such as potash, oil, nickel, manganese, lead, iron, copper, and bauxite. As such, it is also dependent on foreign imports. To tackle this situation, the government facilitated investment initiatives in mineral-rich countries such as Mongolia, Indonesia, Chile, Burma, Brazil, and Australia.
Simultaneously, the Ch!nese government has taken measures to protect its mineral resources from over-exploitation. It has already employed its plans to create a suitable environment for mining and metal sectors by the reclamation of mine sites, improvement of mine safety, land protection, and air and water pollution prevention and treatment. Because of these activities, Ch!na’s economy is expected to improve further, an indication that the need for mineral resources will also increase over the next few years.
