Highlights

• Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region identifies 14 medium to large-scale mineral deposits across critical resources like bauxite, manganese, and rare earth elements.
• Exploration initiative discovers:
  • 48 billion tons of calcium carbonate
  • 1.5 billion tons of quartz sand
  • 360,000 tons of lead-zinc ore
• Strategic mineral discoveries strengthen China's domestic resource supply chain and reduce dependence on international mineral imports.

The Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources announced significant discoveries following a multi-year strategic mineral exploration initiative conducted between 2021 and 2024. The program focused on critical resources such as bauxite, manganese, tin, antimony, tungsten, zirconium, nickel, rare earth elements, and fluorite, as well as industrially essential minerals like quartz sand and calcium carbonate, which are in high demand for regional development.

By the end of 2024, exploration efforts had identified 14 medium to large-scale deposits containing bauxite, manganese, fluorite, tin, and rare earth elements, reinforcing Guangxi's strategic resource base.

Additionally, geologists discovered 48 billion tons of calcium carbonate, 1.5 billion tons of quartz sand, and 360,000 tons of lead-zinc ore, further boosting the region’s industrial supply chain.

This development represents a major milestone in Guangxi’s mineral exploration efforts, strengthening China's access to key raw materials for high-tech manufacturing, renewable energy, and infrastructure projects. It also underscores China’s continued drive to secure domestic supplies of strategic minerals, reducing reliance on imports amid global resource competition.

The scale and diversity of these newly identified deposits could have far-reaching economic and geopolitical implications, particularly as the global demand for rare earth elements and other critical minerals continues to grow.