Year-End Inventory Of Major Events In China's Nonferrous Metals Industry In 2025

(MENAFN- Market Press Release) January 5, 2026 11:43 pm - CME Group issued a major margin adjustment notice stating that it will increase the performance margin of gold, silver, lithium and other metal futures varieties across the board after the market closes on December 29 (Monday).

January
On January 6, relevant people from Northern Rare Earth said that due to adjustments in the company's business strategy, the release of listing prices will be canceled starting in January this year. The company will refer to the daily prices published by Baotou Rare Earth Exchange Co., Ltd. when signing long-term agreements in the future.

On January 7, China's State Administration for Market Regulation and other departments issued a notice on the announcement of the pilot list for product carbon footprint labeling certification. Among them, electrolytic aluminum product carbon footprint label certification will be piloted in Tongliao City in Inner Mongolia, Binzhou City in Shandong Province, Liaocheng City, Yantai City, Weifang City, Baise City in Guangxi Province, and Kunming City in Yunnan Province.

On January 24, the "China (Zhejiang) Pilot Free Trade Zone Commodity Resource Allocation Hub Construction Plan" was released. It is proposed to promote the development of iron ore and non-ferrous metal processing industries. Support the pilot bonded ore blending of copper concentrate and build an international blended ore distribution center radiating to the Asia-Pacific region. Support the development of processing businesses such as imported blister copper, recycled copper, and precision stainless steel, carry out packaging business of non-ferrous metal minerals and intermediate products, and build a non-ferrous metal mineral blending, processing and distribution center.

February
On February 12, 11 departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China jointly issued the "Implementation Plan for High-Quality Development of the Copper Industry (2025-2027)", which proposed that by 2027, my country's copper raw material security capabilities will continue to increase, and strive to increase domestic copper resources by 5%-10%, and the resilience and safety level of the copper industry chain and supply chain will be significantly improved.

March
Saudi Arabia has launched a tender for mineral exploration licenses, involving three mineral resource-rich exploration zones in Riyadh and Medina, with a total area of??24,946 square kilometers. The mining areas involved in this tender include Nuqrah and Sukhaybrah Al-Safra in Medina, as well as Nabitah in Riyadh, which are rich in gold, copper, silver, zinc, nickel and other minerals.

On March 18, Xinjiang held its first mining rights transfer project promotion conference in 2025, focusing on promoting 171 mining rights transfer projects certified by the Ministry of Natural Resources and the autonomous region at both levels, involving 21 major minerals such as oil and gas, coal, copper, gold, lithium, potash, etc.

On March 28, ten departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China issued the "Implementation Plan for High-Quality Development of the Aluminum Industry (2025-2027)". By 2027, the resilience and safety level of the industrial chain and supply chain will be significantly improved, and the overall development level of the industrial chain will lead the world. The ability to guarantee aluminum resources has been greatly improved, and we strive to increase domestic bauxite resources by 3%-5% and produce more than 15 million tons of recycled aluminum.

April
On April 4, the Ministry of Commerce of China, together with the General Administration of Customs, issued an announcement on the implementation of export control measures for seven categories of medium and heavy rare earth-related items, including samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium, and yttrium, and it was officially implemented on the date of release.

On April 15, the London Metal Exchange (LME), a subsidiary of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, announced that it had approved four LME-approved warehousing facilities in Hong Kong. The new approved warehousing facility has passed the LME transportation and logistics standards acceptance and is expected to be officially put into operation in three months to begin receiving and storing metals of LME-approved delivery brands. Metals permitted for storage include aluminum alloys, tin, zinc and lead.

On April 16, China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment issued the“List of Pilot Units for Optimizing the Inter-provincial Transfer Management of Waste Lead-Acid Batteries (Second Batch)”.

On April 24, Chalco announced that in order to promote the company's "Two Seas" strategy and optimize the layout of the alumina industry, after review, the board of directors approved the company's new 2×1.5 million tons/year alumina production line in the Taiping Bay Cooperation Innovation Zone, Dalian City, Liaoning Province. The total project investment is expected to be approximately RMB 7.942 billion.

May
On May 6, Zijin Mining announced that Zijin International Holdings, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the company, had completed the acquisition of 392,249,869 shares of Zangge Mining and obtained control of it. Through this acquisition, Zijin Mining has added copper, lithium and potassium resource reserves and improved the operation and management efficiency of Julong Copper Mine.

On May 8, US President Trump stated that the United States and Ukraine had reached a rare earth agreement, which has now been fully signed and approved, and that the United States can obtain "a large amount of very high-quality rare earths."
According to media reports, late on Thursday night (May 15) local time, Guinean Information and Press Minister Fana Souma announced in a televised speech that Guinean President Mamadi Doumbouya had signed a decree to withdraw mining concessions.

On May 16, the White House stated that Emirates Global Aluminum will invest US$4 billion to develop a primary aluminum smelting project in Oklahoma.

On May 22, Hongchuang Holdings announced that the company plans to issue shares to purchase 100% of Hongtuo Industrial held by Weiqiao Aluminum, Jiahui Investment, Oriental Asset Management, CITIC Financial Assets, Juxin Tianang, Ningbo Xin Aluminum, Jinan Hongtai, Junyue Investment, and Tiancheng Zinccheng. The transaction price is 63.518 billion yuan.

June
On June 4, Trump's order to increase steel and aluminum tariffs to 50% came into effect.

On June 10, cast aluminum alloy futures and options, the first recycled commodity in China's futures market, were listed for trading on the Shanghai Futures Exchange.

On June 12, He Yadong, spokesperson of the Ministry of Commerce of China, stated that China, as a responsible major country, fully considers the reasonable needs and concerns of various countries in the civilian field, reviews applications for export licenses for rare earth-related items in accordance with laws and regulations, has approved a certain number of compliance applications in accordance with the law, and will continue to strengthen the review and approval of compliance applications.

On June 23, China's State Administration for Market Regulation released a list of unconditionally approved cases of concentration of undertakings from June 9 to June 15, 2025, including the case of a new joint venture between China Northern Rare Earth (Group) High-Tech Co., Ltd. and Fujian Jinlong Rare Earth Co., Ltd.

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