China is rolling out sweeping new controls over its mining sector, expanding regulations beyond rare earths to cover the entire supply chain of strategic minerals just days after a highly anticipated summit between Chinese President and U.S. President Donald Trump.
The official Xinhua News Agency announced Wednesday that the Implementation Regulations of the Mineral Resources Law of the People’s Republic of China will take effect on June 15, 2026. The detailed rules, which implement a broader law passed in 2024, introduce national security reviews for foreign investments in mining and accelerate the construction of strategic mineral reserve facilities, triggering global market concerns over critical resource supply chains.
Most notably, the regulations establish a minimum five-year term for in-situ strategic mineral reserves. After this period, extensions or adjustments will only be approved following reviews by State Council authorities. No entity or individual may mine or encroach upon state-reserved strategic minerals without explicit approval from the State Council’s natural resources authority. The government did not specify which minerals will be covered under the new measures.
China is the world’s largest consumer of most commodities and the dominant supplier of many critical minerals. It controls over 60% of global rare earth mining output and nearly all processing capacity. For more than two decades, Beijing has enforced strict annual production quotas on rare earths, and last year leveraged this market dominance to restrict exports in retaliation against U.S. tariffs. The move sent prices of minerals such as yttrium soaring and left many Western manufacturers facing severe supply shortages.
The timing of the new rules is particularly sensitive, coming immediately after the Trump-Xi summit where rare earth and critical mineral supplies were a central topic. Customs data shows that Chinese mineral shipments to the U.S. remained depressed ahead of the meeting.
In a statement released Sunday, the White House said Beijing had agreed to address shortages of yttrium and other critical rare earths. The Chinese government, in turn, confirmed that the two sides had discussed the issue and would study and resolve “each other’s reasonable and lawful concerns,” according to a Reuters-cited statement.
Officials said the regulations aim to “promote the rational development and utilization of mineral resources, strengthen environmental protection, advance the high-quality development of the mining industry, and safeguard China’s mineral resource security.” Beyond core controls and reserve requirements, the rules comprehensively regulate mining rights granting, exploration and extraction processes, and mine ecological restoration responsibilities. They will simultaneously abolish seven previous mining-related regulations, including the Interim Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Mineral Resources.
In a rare public disclosure in February, the head of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association stated that China would expand its strategic reserves of copper.
Against the backdrop of intensifying global competition for minerals essential to advanced technologies and defense applications, China’s new full-chain regulatory framework further strengthens its mineral resource security system. The regulations also reaffirm China’s commitment to “equality, mutual benefit and win-win cooperation” in international mining investment, trade and technology, and to maintaining the security and stability of global industrial and supply chains.
