China to increase domestic mining of strategic minerals

China aims to increase domestic mining of strategic minerals such as copper, aluminum, nickel, lithium and platinum group metals, which are now in shortage, the country's top industry regulator said on Friday.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and six ministry-level departments said in a plan that China aims to increase the output of the non-ferrous metal industry by about 5.5 percent year-on-year in 2023 and above 5.5 percent in 2024.

China will formulate an overall plan for the development of key resources such as lithium, and will encourage areas with favorable conditions to carry out key technology research and industrial trials such as efficient lithium and magnesium extraction from salt lakes, the plan said.