Highlights
- China Minmetals holds crucial planning session to reshape rare earth sector through technological innovation and national resource security.
- Corporation aims to transform from resource extraction to advanced materials, targeting defense, electronics, and EV sectors.
- Strategic move signals China’s intent to consolidate global rare earth market control through long-term, state-coordinated planning.
In a move that underscores the strategic alignment between China’s central industrial policy and its rare earth ambitions, China Minmetals Corporation—a state-owned mining and metals behemoth—held a major 15th Five-Year Plan (2026–2030) planning session (opens in a new tab) with its Hunan-based affiliates on May 14. The meeting, chaired by Chen Dexin, Party Secretary and Chairman of China Minmetals, brought together top executives and planning personnel to refine the company’s development goals, with a heavy focus on technological innovation, national resource security, and industrial transformation.
The meeting marked a key milestone in China Minmetals’ internal mobilization for the next decade, following directives issued by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) and recent speeches by President Xi Jinping, which called for high-level self-reliance in science and technology and a modernized national industrial system. The implications of this gathering for China’s rare earth sector, which is already under China Minmetals’ extensive control through entities such as China Minmetals Rare Earth Co., Ltd., are significant.
Strategic Realignment Around “New Quality Productive Forces”
Chairman Chen Dexin’s speech echoed China’s broader policy shift toward what Xi has labeled “new quality productive forces”—a term encompassing advanced manufacturing, deep tech, and sustainable industrial upgrading. For China Minmetals, this entails a transformation from resource extraction to value-added materials, including rare earth functional materials, and vertically integrated rare earth product lines serving the defense, electronics, and electric vehicle (EV) sectors.
Attendees from affiliated enterprises in Hunan, a key processing and separation base for heavy rare earths, reported on their implementation of the 14th Five-Year Plan and presented preliminary strategies for the 15th Plan. These included measures to advance clean production, enhance process control in separation and metallurgy, and pursue the development of proprietary technology in rare earth magnets and high-purity oxides.
Chen emphasized that state-owned enterprises, such as Minmetals, must lead in “technological sovereignty,” supply chain security, and strategic material resilience, particularly in the face of evolving geopolitical tensions and resource weaponization risks.
Implications for the Rare Earth Industry? China Doubling Down on Control and Competitiveness
This meeting highlights three major trends reshaping the rare earth landscape as suggested by Rare Earth Exchanges (REEx) in the table below:
| State Integration | The vertical coordination of planning across Minmetals’ headquarters, regional affiliates, and downstream subsidiaries signals a tighter grip on resource strategy and execution. This model of state-planned industrial coordination is unrivaled globally, giving China a distinct advantage in synchronizing upstream mining with downstream advanced materials. |
| Technological Command | By focusing on “new quality productive forces,” Minmetals is making clear that rare earths are no longer just strategic commodities—they are critical enablers of national tech development, from AI hardware to electric mobility and next-gen military platforms. |
| Global Pressure Valve | While Western economies continue to explore rare earth independence, Minmetals moves to extend its lead by embedding rare earth development into broader national economic planning. This may limit the effectiveness of Western efforts to diversify supply if China succeeds in moving faster up the value chain. |
Rare Earth Policy as Statecraft
With this planning initiative, China Minmetals is poised to play a central role in implementing Beijing’s next phase of resource and industrial strategy. The corporation’s 15th Five-Year Plan will likely integrate major projects in rare earth magnet production, high-purity oxide processing, environmental compliance retrofits, and global trade positioning.
For international competitors and policymakers, this is a wake-up call: China is not merely securing rare earth supply—it is architecting global rare earth dominance through long-term, vertically integrated state planning.
As Western economies scramble to fund fragmented mining ventures and patch together processing capacity, China Minmetals is setting the stage for a decade of rare earth consolidation, innovation, and global leverage.
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