Mineral Resource Science in China: Review and perspective

Abstract

Mineral resources are essential to prosperity and security of modern societies. How mineral resources can guarantee sustainable development of economy in countries, especially those developing countries, has long been a focus of attention of international communities. This paper provides a comprehensive summary for major advance of the research on mineral resources in past decades, and proposes some key issues regarding ore-forming mechanism, exploration and utilization of major and critical mineral resources. On the basis of these aspects, we also identify four priority science issues to be addressed in the future, including (1) mechanism of both metal circulation and extremely high concentration, (2) theories and technologies of prospecting deep-earth resources, (3) investigation of mineral resources in seafloor and polar regions, and (4) efficient, clean and recycling utilization of mineral resources. It can be expected that new advances in these four issues would tremendously promote the innovation of mineral resource science, and provide scientific and technologic support to meet the demand of mineral resources for human activities and the harmonious development of both mineral-resource exploration and ecological restoration.

Keywords

Mineral resource science / Review / Priority science issues

Declaration of Competing Interest

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Acknowledgment

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. L1924041) and Research Project on the Discipline Development Strategy of Academic Divisions of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XK2019DXC006).

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