China has released a new mineral resources catalogue aimed at enhancing energy and resource security, boosting the efficiency of mineral resource management, and fostering the steady and orderly development of the mining sector by optimizing mineral species, the Ministry of Natural Resources said on Tuesday.
The catalogue, approved by the State Council, or China's Cabinet, and compiled by the Ministry of Natural Resources and the National Development and Reform Commission, covers four categories — energy, metal, nonmetal and fluid minerals — and lists 174 mineral species and 119 subspecies.
Qiao Chunlei, deputy director-general of the ministry's department of mineral resources protection and supervision, said the previous catalogue, which was introduced in 1994, had provided a solid foundation for taking stock of the country's resource base, safeguarding resource security and promoting the healthy development of the mineral market.
Building on that framework, the new catalogue renews the list by adding, merging and renaming mineral species to address the current needs of fostering new quality productive forces and ensuring energy and resource security. This update, Qiao said, aligns with the newly revised Mineral Resources Law and its implementation regulations, playing a significant role in the governance of mineral resources.
The catalogue has been expanded with the addition of nine mineral species. These include pyroxenite, gabbro, syenite, shale gas, natural gas hydrate and high-purity quartz — newly-identified species approved by the State Council after 1994. In addition, 15 existing species have been consolidated into six, and several species names have been updated.
Qiao added that the revision, which began in August 2024, involved extensive research and consultation, aiming to balance geological logic with the physical, chemical, and processing characteristics of each mineral, while addressing energy security needs, technological progress and resource management.
"Establishing the catalogue enables government departments to clearly identify management targets, understand resource endowments, and support the formulation of differentiated policies on exploration, extraction, reserves, and import and export," Qiao said.
"It also allows for the design of tailored environmental protection and restoration standards for different mineral species — from exploration and mining to mine closure and ecological rehabilitation. This approach achieves precise, 'one-mineral, one-policy' environmental oversight and serves as a foundation for refined, science-based mineral resource governance," he added.
The ministry said it will continue to align the catalogue with management rules and is currently drafting standard documents for reporting newly identified mineral species.
