One of the characteristics of China's non-ferrous metal resources is that there are many complex ores, and some have lower grades. Not only are many non-ferrous metals often co-occurring together, but some iron ore also contain large amounts of non-ferrous metals. For example, Panzhihua iron ore contains large amounts of vanadium. Titanium; Baotou Iron Ore contains a large amount of rare earth and antimony. Therefore, research on new technologies, new processes, new equipment, and new materials suited to the characteristics of China's resources, and the gradual establishment of a nonferrous metal material system suitable for China's situation is a very important task in the future. .

China's non-ferrous metal resources are abundant and the varieties are relatively complete. As far as we know, the reserves of 7 kinds of metals such as tungsten and rare earth are ranked first in the world; the reserves of 5 metals such as lead, nickel, mercury, molybdenum, and bismuth are also abundant. Among the mineral resources, non-ferrous metals are a major advantage of China. Prior to the founding of the People’s Republic of China, China’s non-ferrous metal industry was very backward. Regardless of mines or factories, the scale of its equipment was very small and it could only produce gold, silver, tin, antimony, copper, lead, zinc, mercury, etc. Many non-ferrous metals could not produce. Since 1949, China's non-ferrous metals industry has developed rapidly, and it has formed a production system that uses a wide range of products, ranging from commonly used non-ferrous metals to rare metals. China's various non-ferrous metal mining, mineral processing, smelting, and processing plants all have considerable scale, but compared with the world's advanced level, there is still a certain gap. Therefore, while carrying out the construction of new non-ferrous metal mines and factories, it also faces the task of technological transformation of existing mines and factories to give full play to the advantages of China's non-ferrous metal resources and meet the needs of the development of the national economy.

In the first half of 2013, the output of major non-ferrous metal products in China continued to increase, and prices have picked up. However, the profits of the industry have declined significantly. It remains to be seen whether the entire industry can recover.

From January to June, the output of ten kinds of non-ferrous metal nationwide was 19.47 million tons, an increase of 10% year-on-year, and the growth rate was 3.3% higher than the same period of last year. The output of electrolytic aluminum was 10.58 million tons, an increase of 7.9%, slowing down by 1.8 percentage points; copper production by 12.9%, accelerating by 2.6 percentage points; lead production by 12.5%, accelerating by 3.6 percentage points; zinc production by 9.2%, down by 6.2% over the same period of last year . Alumina production increased by 10%, accelerating by 0.3%.

The price of major non-ferrous metals rebounded but remained at a low level compared with the same period of last year. In June, the average prices of copper, electrolytic aluminum, lead and zinc futures of Shanghai Futures Exchange were 53,227 yuan/ton, 14,725 yuan/ton, 13,896 yuan/ton and 14,535 yuan/ton, respectively, a slight increase of 2.6% and 1.5% from the previous quarter. 1.1% and 0.8% but decreased by 4%, 7.7%, 8.8% and 1.6% respectively.

Affected by the global metal price drop and domestic economic downturn, the non-ferrous metal industry realized a profit of 65.17 billion yuan in the first five months, a year-on-year decrease of 7.1%. Among them, non-ferrous metal mining industry profit 25.38 billion yuan, down 4.4%; non-ferrous metal smelting and rolling processing industry profit 39.79 billion yuan, down 8.8%.

But when the entire industry is in a downturn, there are also bright spots. As of the end of June, the total assets of China Nonferrous Metals Corporation, one of the top 500 companies in the world, increased by 15.26% over the same period of last year, and operating income increased by 77.43% year-on-year; the profit of its subsidiary Tieleng Mineral Processing Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. increased by 22.28% year-on-year, over 115. 18.2% of the profits of the central SOEs grew year-on-year.