China has launched a huge new nationwide hunt for resources ranging from crude oil to rare earths, as it strives to shield its economy from a turbulent geopolitical environment in which raw materials are increasingly becoming instruments of leverage, according to South China Morning Post.
The upgraded national campaign was designed to uncover and extract more of China’s own resources, as demand for key minerals was expected to keep rising in the coming years, the Ministry of Natural Resources said on Tuesday.
The high-profile drive, which deputy minister Zhou Xing dubbed a “mineral exploration offensive”, will focus on oil, iron, copper and aluminium – resources that China lacks – as well as rare earths, a sector that it already dominates.
“We aim to discover as many mineral deposits as possible, especially large and high-grade ones … to significantly boost self-sufficiency in strategic mineral resources and strengthen confidence in safeguarding China’s energy and resource security,” Zhou said during a press conference.
The plan, which covers China’s new five-year economic cycle from 2026 to 2030, would also include the construction of around 300 energy and resource bases, Zhou added.
China’s renewed exploration drive comes at a time of heightened geopolitical uncertainty, as the US-Israel war on Iran intensifies worries over supply-chain security and countries compete for access to critical minerals amid rising economic, technology and military tensions.
Between January and August, China uncovered nearly 70 million tonnes of recoverable oil and 610 billion cubic metres of natural gas reserves, according to the ministry. Major discoveries this year have included the super-large Maoniuping rare earth mine in the southwestern Sichuan province and the Chating copper-gold mine in the central Anhui province.
The country will harness artificial intelligence to advance deep-earth and deep-sea exploration, as well as re-evaluate low-grade, hard-to-use mineral deposits that were once considered unusable, according to Zhou.
China has been ramping up its mineral exploration efforts in recent years, investing a total of 500 billion yuan (US$75 billion) between 2021 and 2025, a 29 per cent increase compared with the previous five-year period, according to a ministry briefing in April.
The extra activity appeared to pay off, with China logging a major uptick in newly proven oil and gas reserves over the period. The volume of new proven oil and natural gas reserves rose by 51.7 per cent and 44.2 per cent, respectively, compared with the previous five years, according to ministry data.
As of the end of last year, China had the world’s largest reserves of 14 minerals, including rare earths and tungsten, and was ranked in the global top four for nine others, including coal, iron and lithium, the ministry said.
China’s exports of rare earths – strategic minerals that have become a source of geopolitical leverage for Beijing – fell by 11.1 per cent year on year during the first eight months of 2026, according to Chinese customs data.
