Having already reported a significant increase in mineral reserves that serve to enhance its self-sufficiency, China is digging deeper with plans to enhance support for finding valuable resources – a move that comes as the United States is pressuring war-ravaged Ukraine to surrender half of its rare earth deposits in exchange for security guarantees.

A push to secure home-grown sources of 36 “strategically important” minerals kicked off in 2021, when Beijing laid out a plan that runs through this year and aims to reduce China’s reliance on overseas purchases while ensuring that it holds its own in the global battle for valuable resources.

And on Monday, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology published an action plan aiming to guide the high-quality development of the energy-storage manufacturing industry, while also committing to the orderly allocation of mining rights and the enhancement of domestic resource security capabilities.

The expanded effort is expected to unearth more substantial amounts of critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt and nickel.

The announcement came after state broadcaster CCTV said on Friday that China’s copper reserves – a critical resource for the manufacturing industry due to its importance in electric power, transport and construction – had increased by more than 30 million tonnes since 2021. The amount is equivalent to China’s total discoveries made in the previous decade.

What’s more, China has established a 3,000km (1,864-mile) lithium mineral belt, estimated to hold between 20 million and 30 million tonnes of lithium. According to the CCTV report, this could help ensure that lithium prices are no longer subject to the control of Western mining companies.