Abstract:

Critical minerals are essential to sustainable development and in high demand in modern society. They are, however, subject to high risks due to limited quantity, uneven geological/geographical distribution, geopolitics, trade policy, and other factors. Critical minerals refer mainly to rare earth elements, rare metals, valuable constituent element dispersed in a mineral commodity, and some precious metals (e.g., platinum-group elements). The critical metals have unique physical and chemical properties (e.g., extreme high temperature resistance, corrosion resistance, excellent optical and electromagnetic properties, etc.), making them vital for the high-technology industries, emerging economies, advanced defense systems, green technologies, new energy, artificial intelligence, etc. It is predicted that global demands for critical metals will grow rapidly in the next decades, and the conflict between supply and demand will become increasingly prominent. Future international competition for mineral resources will largely involve critical metals. China has been the main consumer of mineral resources in the last decade, and its demand for critical minerals will continue to grow for a long period. The continuing high demand and increasingly stronger competition highlight the urgent needs for innovative multidisciplinary research in metallogeny, exploration, and utilization of critical minerals. China hosts a large variety of critical minerals with diverse mineralization styles; they are distributed as clusters or belts and formed by complicated geochemical processes under favorable geological settings. To advance our understanding of the genesis of critical minerals, we suggest three key issues for future studies: (1) partition and transportation of critical metals in the processes of interaction between Earth’s spheres; (2) mechanisms for unusual enrichment of critical metals in magmatic, hydrothermal, and supergene systems, as well as controls on temporo-spatial distribution of related ore deposits; and (3) mode of occurrence and technologies towards efficient, green extraction of critical metals from various minerals and ores. Based on the analysis of current situation and future trend of supply-demand for critical minerals, suggestions on improving mineral exploration, economic utilization, management policy, and resource security strategy for critical minerals in China are proposed.

Key words: critical minerals, deposit types, research contents, resource strategy