The mineral exploration achievements obtained in the 50 years since the founding of the New China indicate that China's mineral resources occupy an extremely important position in the makeup of the global mineral resources.

First, China is a big mineral resources power. Its mineral resources are not only diversified but also complete in variety with a relatively high degree of combination of principal minerals with supporting ones. China has all the three major groups of mineral resources: mineral energy resources (coal, petroleum, natural gas, uranium, etc.), metallic mineral resources (iron, copper, tungsten, aluminium, etc.) and nonmetallic mineral resources (phosphorus, sulphur, etc.) and its total resources are plentiful as well. According to statistics, the potential value of China's various mineral reserves accounts for about 12% of the world's total, ranking third in the world, just next to the United States and the Commonwealth of Independent States (Table 1.4.4), and China's per capita occupancy of resources ranks 53rd in the world. Despite of the insignificant per capita occupancy of resources, which is only half of that of the world, China's mineral resources can still be considered, in terms of total resources, to hold a decisive position in the global mineral resources.

Table 1.4.4 Total potential values of the mineral reserves of the world's 10 major mining countries


Second, China is a country with a relatively high resource abundance per unit land area. China has not only a vast territory and abundant total resources but also a comparatively high resource abundance per unit land area. According to relevant analyses, China's potential value of the mineral reserves per square kilometer land area amounts to 1,725,130 US dollars, 1.87 times that of the world (US$92,1220) and 1.76 times that of the former USSR.

Third, some of China's mineral resources occupy dominant positions in the world. As the unbalanced crustal movements and multiphase and complex tectonic activities resulted in somewhat different minerogenetic geological conditions in different parts of the globe, the mineral resources formed in different parts and countries of the world differ in variety and abundance as well as in scale and quality. Each country may have some mineral resources in superior and inferior positions within the global scope. This is the case with China, too. A comparative study of the available data indicates that in the make-up of the global mineral resources, while China's mineral resources show a certain inferior aspect, they do have a considerable amount of varieties that have a clear superiority in the world. For instance, the reserves of over 20 varieties of China's mineral resources, such as those of coal, tungsten, molybdenum, vanadium, antimony, tin, rare-earth metals, ilminite, bismuth, lithium, niobium, tantalum, mercury, strontium, fluorite, magnesite, sulfur, phosphorus, talc, graphite, barite, bentonite, diatomaceous earth and asbestos, occupy the front 3 places in the world.