China Metal Reserves
USGS reports 25 commodities with a reserve or production figure for China, led by Magnesium Metal at 82.22% of the reported global reserve. See China's price profile for live metal prices.
USGS assesses roughly 90 mineral commodities worldwide each year, but only compiles a country-level reserve or production breakdown for a given commodity where the underlying data supports one — the table below is every commodity that condition is met for in China. Each row pairs the reserve quantity with its share of the reported global total and last year's production, so it's possible to see at a glance which commodities this country is significant in and which it merely reports a smaller figure for.
Global Reserve Share by Commodity
China's Reported Commodities
| Commodity | Category | Reserve | Global Reserve Share | 2025 Production | Global Production Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antimony | Strategic | 830,000 metric tons (antimony content) | Not calculated | 40,000 metric tons (antimony content) | 36.36% |
| Bauxite and Alumina | Base | 710,000 thousand metric dry tons, bauxite | 7.89% | 87,000 thousand metric dry tons, bauxite | 19.77% |
| Beryllium | Strategic | 77 metric tons (beryllium content) | 17.91% | 78 metric tons (beryllium content) | 18.01% |
| Cadmium | Strategic | 9,500 metric tons | 41.30% | 8,900 metric tons | 39.04% |
| Cobalt | Battery | 160,000 metric tons (cobalt content) | 8.00% | 2,000 metric tons (cobalt content) | 0.65% |
| Copper | Base | 41,000 thousand metric tons, copper content | 4.18% | 14,000 thousand metric tons, copper content | 48.28% |
| Gold | Precious | 3,200 metric tons (gold content) | 4.85% | 380 metric tons (gold content) | 11.52% |
| Iron Ore | Base | 3,000 million metric tons, iron content | 3.45% | 290,000 thousand metric tons, usable ore | 11.15% |
| Lead | Base | 22,000 thousand metric tons (lead content) | 23.16% | 1,900 thousand metric tons (lead content) | 42.22% |
| Lithium | Battery | 4,600,000 metric tons (lithium content) | 65.71% | 62,000 metric tons (lithium content) | 21.38% |
| Magnesium Metal | Strategic | 1,480 thousand metric tons | 82.22% | 950 thousand metric tons | 86.36% |
| Manganese | Battery | 260,000 thousand metric tons (gross weight) | 14.44% | 700 thousand metric tons (gross weight) | 3.50% |
| Molybdenum | Base | 7,800 metric tons (molybdenum content) | 45.88% | 97,000 metric tons (molybdenum content) | 37.31% |
| Nickel | Base | 4,400,000 metric tons (nickel content) | Not calculated | 120,000 metric tons (nickel content) | 3.08% |
| Niobium | Strategic | 6,500,000 metric tons (niobium content) | Not calculated | 40 metric tons (niobium content) | 0.04% |
| Rare Earths | Rare-earth | 4,000,000 metric tons (rare-earth-oxide (REO) equi | Not calculated | 270,000 metric tons (rare-earth-oxide (REO) equi | 69.23% |
| Rhenium | Strategic | 200,000 kilograms (rhenium content) | Not calculated | 20,000 kilograms (rhenium content) | 24.69% |
| Silver | Precious | 67,000 metric tons (silver content) | 10.98% | 3,400 metric tons (silver content) | 13.08% |
| Tantalum | Strategic | 240,000 metric tons (tantalum content) | Not calculated | 80 metric tons (tantalum content) | 3.20% |
| Tin | Base | 1,200,000 metric tons (tin content) | Not calculated | 71,000 metric tons (tin content) | 24.48% |
| Titanium Mineral Concentrates | Strategic | 110,000 thousand metric tons, TiO2 content | Not calculated | 3,200 thousand metric tons, TiO2 content | 34.04% |
| Tungsten | Strategic | 2,500,000 metric tons (tungsten content) | Not calculated | 67,000 metric tons (tungsten content) | 78.82% |
| Vanadium | Battery | 5,800 metric tons (vanadium content) | 27.62% | 82,000 metric tons (vanadium content) | 74.55% |
| Zinc | Base | 60,000 thousand metric tons (zinc content) | 25.00% | 4,100 thousand metric tons (zinc content) | 31.54% |
| Zirconium and Hafnium | Strategic | 500 thousand metric tons, ZrO2 content | Not calculated | 100 thousand metric tons, gross weight | 8.33% |
