China To Impose Mining Controls On Strategic Minerals

The Trump-Xi meeting is now history, so Beijing can go back to doing what it does best: squeezing US supply chains with its near chokehold on most strategic and rare-earth supply chains.

China plans to impose mining controls on certain strategic minerals to ensure supply security and protect the finite resources, Beijing revealed in a government notification published by the official Xinhua News Agency. 

The new rules will take effect from June 15 and allow Beijing to control total output, restrict mining entities and run security reviews on foreign investments in mining that could pose a risk to national security.

Xinhua didn’t specify which minerals will be impacted. Any adjustment to the list of strategic mineral resources will assess factors like economic importance, national security, domestic requirements and supply chain resilience, according to the regulation.

China currently has similar controls on production of rare earths, critical materials vital for high-tech manufacturing, through annual production quotas to a few licensed domestic companies.