China ranks among the world’s top three producers and holders of reserves across a wide range of minerals and metals, providing significant leverage in global resource security and the energy transition.
China holds the world’s largest reserves of tin, graphite and rare earths, as well as the second-largest reserves of lead and zinc and the third-largest of manganese. By contrast, its reserves of gold, copper, iron, bauxite, nickel, and cobalt are modest by global standards.
China is the leading global producer of gold, lead, zinc, tin, aluminium, graphite and rare earths, and ranks third in iron and lithium production. It accounts for nearly 80% of world graphite output, 70% of rare earths, 60% of aluminium, 44% of lead, 33% of zinc and 23% of tin.
This dominance in both reserves and production across key strategic minerals provides China with significant geopolitical leverage, supply-chain security and industrial capacity. Yet in a few critical cases—notably cobalt, copper, and nickel—China remains reliant on strategic imports.
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