What changed
China has released a new Mineral Resources Catalogue, approved by the State Council and issued by the Ministry of Natural Resources with the National Development and Reform Commission on October 13, 2026. It lists 174 mineral types and 119 subtypes across four categories: energy, metallic, non-metallic, and water-and-gas minerals.
Why it matters
This catalogue gives China’s mineral resources a common administrative map. It will underpin resource planning, mining-rights management, rules for exploration and extraction, tax and fee collection, and industrial policy.
The update also puts the classification system under the framework of China’s new Mineral Resources Law and its implementing regulations. For mining and exploration companies, that means the categories used by regulators are being refreshed, even though the authorities have not yet published which individual minerals were added, removed, or reclassified.
The next practical step is still being prepared: the Ministry of Natural Resources is studying standards for approving new minerals. Those standards will help determine how future resources enter the official system.
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