China's Ministry of Land and Resources has stated that it is planning to include molybdenum in the country's list of protected minerals, which already includes gold, tungsten, tin, stibium and tombarthite. According to the ministry's statement, mining of molybdenum would thus be carried out on a quota basis.
Proved reserves of molybdenum in China total 11.36 million mt, scattered across several provinces of the country.
China has been implementing export quotas, an export license system and mining quotas in the fields of tungsten, tin, stibium and tombarthite.