China's non-oil and gas exploration spending rises for fourth straight year

China invested RMB22.96 billion (USD3.19 billion) in non-oil and gas geological exploration in 2024, a 14.4% increase year-on-year, according to the latest report from the Ministry of Natural Resources. This marks the fourth consecutive year of growth.

Mineral exploration accounted for 60.6% of the total, with spending up 18.4%. The top five regions by investment were Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Sichuan, Gansu, and Yunnan. Investment was mainly spent in the finding of gold, coal, copper, uranium, lead-zinc, and iron, with increased funding for rare earths, phosphate, molybdenum, tin, and others compared with 2023.

As of the end of 2024, there were 11,681 valid non-oil and gas exploration licenses nationwide, up by 3.8% from the previous year.

A total of 150 new mineral deposits were discovered in 2024, including 49 large, 54 medium, and 47 small-sized sites. The most commonly found minerals were granite for construction, fluorspar, lithium, gold, and iron ore.