中国关键矿产现状、研究内容与资源战略分析

关键矿产是指当前和未来相当长时间内现代社会可持续发展所必须但在稳定供给方面又存在高风险的金属矿产资源,主要包括稀土、稀有、稀散金属和部分稀贵金属矿产资源。关键金属由于具有极度耐高温、耐腐蚀、光学和电磁性质优良等物理化学特性,是航空航天、电子信息、高端制造、新能源、新材料等重点领域和新兴产业发展的重要物质基础。由于高科技和新兴产业的快速发展,未来几十年全球对关键矿产的需求将迅猛增长, 供需矛盾将日益突出,可以说,未来国际矿产资源和科技的竞争在很大程度上将集中于对关键矿产资源的博弈。过去十余年来,中国一直为矿产资源第一消费大国,在未来较长时间内对关键矿产的需求量仍将持续增长。面对国内强劲需求和严峻的国际资源竞争态势, 迫切需要加大科技创新力度, 持续开展关键矿产成矿基础理论和综合利用技术研究。中国的关键矿产种类丰富,成矿过程中关键金属元素的地球化学行为和成矿机制复杂,矿化类型多样,空间分布成群成带,资源潜力大。未来要聚焦关键金属元素超常富集基础理论,重点解决好三方面的科学问题:(1)地球多圈层相互作用对关键金属元素富集的控制作用;(2)关键金属元素富集机制与成矿规律;(3)关键金属元素赋存状态与分离技术。该文立足于国际关键矿产资源形势,提出了全面提升我国对关键矿产资源的管理、勘查、开发和综合利用水平及保障关键矿产资源安全的思考和建议。

Critical minerals in China: Current status,research focus and resource strategic analysis

Critical minerals are essential to sustainable development and in high demand in modern society. They are, however, subject to high risks due to limited quantity, uneven geological/geographical distribution, geopolitics, trade policy, and other factors. Critical minerals refer mainly to rare earth elements, rare metals, valuable constituent element dispersed in a mineral commodity, and some precious metals (e.g., platinum-group elements). The critical metals have unique physical and chemical properties (e.g., extreme high temperature resistance, corrosion resistance, excellent optical and electromagnetic properties, etc.), making them vital for the high-technology industries, emerging economies, advanced defense systems, green technologies, new energy, artificial intelligence, etc. It is predicted that global demands for critical metals will grow rapidly in the next decades, and the conflict between supply and demand will become increasingly prominent. Future international competition for mineral resources will largely involve critical metals. China has been the main consumer of mineral resources in the last decade, and its demand for critical minerals will continue to grow for a long period. The continuing high demand and increasingly stronger competition highlight the urgent needs for innovative multidisciplinary research in metallogeny, exploration, and utilization of critical minerals. China hosts a large variety of critical minerals with diverse mineralization styles; they are distributed as clusters or belts and formed by complicated geochemical processes under favorable geological settings. To advance our understanding of the genesis of critical minerals, we suggest three key issues for future studies: (1) partition and transportation of critical metals in the processes of interaction between Earth’s spheres; (2) mechanisms for unusual enrichment of critical metals in magmatic, hydrothermal, and supergene systems, as well as controls on temporo-spatial distribution of related ore deposits; and (3) mode of occurrence and technologies towards efficient, green extraction of critical metals from various minerals and ores. Based on the analysis of current situation and future trend of supply-demand for critical minerals, suggestions on improving mineral exploration, economic utilization, management policy, and resource security strategy for critical minerals in China are proposed.