According to the implementation plan of the "14th Five Year Plan" for domestic strategic mineral exploration, the new round of breakthrough strategic mineral exploration actions will highlight the shortage of strategic minerals to support the development of strategic emerging industries and continuously enhance the national energy and strategic mineral resource security capabilities. So, what are the scarce strategic minerals? What are the scarce strategic minerals that support the development of strategic emerging industries? What are the breakthroughs that can be achieved through leveraging the main role of various markets, and which must be led by the government to achieve breakthroughs?
1、 Classification of minerals and their perspective
The classification of mineral resources can be approached from different perspectives and is closely related to the attributes of mineral resources. According to industrial purposes and processing characteristics of mining, beneficiation, and metallurgy, mineral resources in China are generally divided into energy minerals, metal minerals, non-metallic minerals, gemstone minerals, and water and gas minerals. Among them, metal minerals are further divided into black metal minerals, non-ferrous metal minerals, precious metal minerals, rare metals, rare earth metal minerals, and dispersed element minerals (also known as rare metal minerals). The relevant departments also specially edited the "Handbook of Industrial Requirements for Mineral Resources" for reference in mineral exploration and evaluation, and corresponding exploration specifications have been formulated for different types of minerals, such as the "Geological Exploration Specification for Phosphate Mines", "Geological Exploration Specification for Geothermal Resources", and "Geological Exploration Specification for Salt Lakes and Salt Minerals". In recent years, emphasis has been placed on key minerals, key metals, strategic minerals, strategic emerging industry minerals, and unconventional minerals. Obviously, there is no established unified classification standard or recognized classification system for these claims. Whether they are "critical" or have "strategic significance" is difficult to reach a consensus, as the strategic significance or criticality of a certain mineral resource in different countries, historical stages, and economic conditions often depends on external conditions rather than the characteristics of the mineral itself, Its physical and chemical properties, as well as its metallurgical processing and arts and crafts performance.
In the new round of strategic breakthroughs in mineral exploration, target minerals will be divided into scarce energy minerals (including oil, natural gas, shale gas, coalbed methane, and uranium), scarce metal minerals (including iron, manganese, chromium, copper, aluminum, gold, nickel, cobalt, lithium, zirconium, hafnium, niobium, tantalum, beryllium, and rhenium), and scarce non-metallic minerals (including potassium salt and boron mines) Dominant minerals (including coal, tungsten, molybdenum, tin, antimony, vanadium, rare earth, indium, germanium, gallium, crystalline graphite, fluorite, and phosphate ore). Obviously, this classification is defined based on the current endowment characteristics of proven mineral resources in China, and it is also relative, especially when defined relative to the demand for production capacity. It does not reflect its natural attributes or fully reflect its economic attributes. For example, mineral resources such as cement limestone, groundwater, and sand and stone materials used in construction are not taken into account, and small metals such as rhenium cannot be compared in terms of usage or economic value with minerals such as cement limestone, groundwater, and sand and stone materials used in construction. They are only listed as "scarce metal minerals" due to their specific uses in certain high-end technology equipment manufacturing industries, Actually, it serves as a reminder for everyone to take it seriously, not really scarce. Actually,