Resource commodities surge to daily limit! A comprehensive overview of 36 strategic mineral resources

Resource commodities experienced a surge on February 25, with gains led by small metals, energy metals, steel, titanium dioxide, phosphate chemicals, and rare earth permanent magnets. Over 20 stocks, including Huaxi Nonferrous, Oriental Tantalum, Northern Rare Earth, China Tungsten High-tech, Baogang Steel, and Anyang Steel, hit the daily limit.

On the news front, according to The Paper on February 25, U.S. President Trump recently signed an executive order invoking the Defense Production Act, elevating phosphorus and glyphosate herbicides to a matter of national security priority. Additionally, as early as November 2025, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) first included phosphates in the list of critical minerals.

China Fund News also reported on February 24 that the Trump administration plans to rely on AI models developed by the U.S. Department of Defense to provide reference prices for global critical mineral trade. The initial coverage will include four strategic minerals: germanium, gallium, antimony, and tungsten, with plans to expand coverage gradually. This move aims to strengthen the U.S.'s influence in critical supply chain pricing.

China also emphasizes the development and protection of strategic mineral resources. The Ministry of Natural Resources issued the “National Mineral Resources Overall Plan (2021–2025),” which clearly defines a list of 36 strategic minerals, including six energy minerals (coal, oil, natural gas, coalbed methane, shale gas, uranium); 25 metallic minerals (iron, manganese, chromium, vanadium, titanium, copper, aluminum, nickel, cobalt, tungsten, tin, molybdenum, antimony, gold, niobium, tantalum, beryllium, lithium, zirconium, rare earths, germanium, gallium, indium, hafnium, rhenium); and five non-metallic minerals (crystalline graphite, phosphorus, potash, boron, fluorite). Compared to the 24 items in the “National Mineral Resources Overall Plan (2016–2020),” this plan adds 12 items.

Galaxy Securities states that major powers are securing their resource supply security by controlling key minerals and increasing resource reserves, which will lead to a widening gap in global critical mineral supply and push prices higher. Additionally, to ensure their own supply security, major countries are rebuilding independent supply chains, which relies on rising metal prices to stimulate the economy and will also increase the costs of critical minerals. As a result, global critical mineral resources will see an “security premium” driving prices upward.

From an individual stock perspective, some leading companies in these strategic minerals are attracting market attention. For example, Zijin Mining in the gold sector, China Tungsten High-tech in tungsten, Luoyang Molybdenum in molybdenum, China Uranium in uranium, China Aluminum in aluminum, and Northern Rare Earth in rare earths.

(Source: Oriental Wealth Research Center)