China has unveiled a sweeping set of implementing regulations for its Mineral Resources Law, signed by Premier Li Qiang and set to take effect on June 15. The regulations span eight chapters and 79 articles, covering five major areas: strengthening the mining rights system, refining exploration and extraction rules, enhancing ecological restoration requirements, improving mineral reserves and emergency response mechanisms, and upgrading oversight and enforcement.
At the heart of the new framework is tighter full-chain management of strategic minerals deemed critical to national security — covering exploration, extraction, supply, storage, and sales. For minerals designated by the State Council, authorities may impose planning controls, output caps, and restrictions on who is permitted to mine them. Strategic minerals held in reserve may not be extracted without approval from the State Council’s natural resources authority, and illegal extraction involving these resources will be subject to harsher-than-standard penalties.
Foreign investors seeking to explore or extract mineral resources in China will also face national security reviews if their activities are found to affect — or potentially affect — national security.
Sun Xiaolei, a professor at Beihang University’s School of Economics and Management, said the regulations mark China’s institutional protection of mineral resource security entering a new phase. She noted that resources such as rare earths and lithium hold significant strategic value for national defense, energy transition, and overall resource security, and that the core thrust of the regulations is to prioritize resource security, tighten control over strategic minerals, and advance rule-of-law governance of the sector.
The regulations also require Chinese entities engaged in overseas mineral development to uphold national and public interests, comply with both Chinese law and the laws of the host country, and remain subject to oversight by relevant Chinese authorities and diplomatic missions abroad. Sun said such overseas activity would help China build a diversified mineral supply network and reduce its vulnerability to Western restrictions on critical mineral exports and technology cooperation.
Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), May 21, 2026
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202605210141.aspx