China’s Expanding Resource Dominance? The Strategic Implications for Rare Earth and Critical Mineral Control

Highlights

• China added 168 metric tons of gold over five years
• Expanded reserves of 12 key critical minerals
• Strategic mineral expansion includes:
  • Doubling cobalt reserves
  • Doubling rhenium reserves
• Significant increases in:
  • Nickel
  • Indium
  • Vanadium
• Calculated geopolitical move to control global supply chains for high-tech and green energy industries

---

According to the China Geological Survey (CGS), China has made significant advances in securing its mineral resource base. Over the past five years, it has added 168 metric tons of gold and expanded reserves of 12 key critical minerals.

Backed by central government funding, China’s latest discoveries include major gold deposits in Gansu, Inner Mongolia, and Heilongjiang, which are classified as super-large and large-scale. Beyond gold, China has substantially increased its reserves of gallium, germanium, indium, cobalt, rhenium, nickel, vanadium, and rare earth elements (REEs), reinforcing its dominance over materials essential to high-tech industries, green energy, and military applications.

The methodical expansion of China’s mineral stockpile is not just a matter of economic security—it is a calculated geopolitical maneuver. As the world grapples with supply chain disruptions and rising trade tensions, China’s ability to control both upstream mining and downstream processing of REEs and critical minerals gives it immense leverage over global markets.

The recent report highlights that cobalt and rhenium reserves have doubled, while nickel, indium, and vanadium reserves have surged by at least 30%. This ensures that Beijing maintains a firm grip on materials crucial for everything from electric vehicles to semiconductor manufacturing.

Some Questions

While this news underscores China’s aggressive push to fortify its resource independence, several key aspects remain unaddressed. The report and account in popular news controlled by the Communist Party (opens in a new tab) lack transparency on how China plans to distribute these resources globally—whether it will tighten export restrictions or leverage them as a geopolitical tool in trade negotiations. Plus, the news must be scrutinized for bias, so nothing can be taken at face value.

Importantly, the environmental and social costs of expanded mining operations are absent from the narrative, particularly in regions like Inner Mongolia, where past rare earth extraction has led to severe ecological degradation.

This report also raises broader strategic questions for the West. With China moving to deepen its mineral dominance, can the U.S. and its allies establish a viable alternative supply chain?

Washington’s efforts to develop rare earth projects in Greenland and Africa remain slow-moving compared to China’s state-backed approach. Ironically, it would appear that a central directed, orchestrated moving operation expedites progress faster than supposed free market forces, a piecemeal of bureaucracy, financiers, companies, and differing national interests.

Suppose Beijing continues to consolidate its control over REEs and other critical minerals. In that case, the West risks long-term dependence on China for materials essential to defense, green energy, and advanced technology.

Ultimately, the CGS announcement serves as both a warning and a strategic signal.

While China reinforces its position as the global leader in rare earths and critical minerals, the U.S. and its allies (and this latter point becomes strained when the U.S. enters tariff disputes with nations such as Canada) must accelerate efforts to diversify their supply chains invest in domestic mining and refining infrastructure, and forge stronger international partnerships to mitigate Beijing’s growing resource hegemony.