Chinese Mining and Metals Chamber Launches Sustainability Initiative for Overseas Mineral Cooperation

The China Chamber of Commerce of Metals, Minerals and Chemicals Importers and Exporters, together with the China Mining Association, the China Iron and Steel Association and nearly 30 industry enterprises, has jointly launched the Self-Discipline Initiative on Sustainable Development in Overseas Mineral Cooperation. The initiative is the first self-regulatory code for overseas cooperation covering the entire mining supply chain in China's mining industry, setting out specific self-discipline requirements in areas including compliance governance, fair competition and integrity, social responsibility and community coexistence, employee rights and career development, responsible procurement and supply chain security, environmental protection and green transition, and grievance mechanisms and information disclosure.

In terms of scope, the initiative applies not only to traditional mineral exploration, development and smelting enterprises, but also brings mineral product trading, renewable resource recycling and mining engineering services within its coverage, spanning all segments of the mining supply chain.

In the field of fair competition, the self-discipline requirements include: not harming the legitimate rights and interests of peers and partners through improper means; improving anti-bribery, anti-fraud and conflict-of-interest management systems and strictly prohibiting improper transfer of benefits; strictly complying with the tax laws of China and host countries or regions, filing and paying all taxes and fees promptly and in full, and eliminating tax-related violations; and, on the premise of complying with antitrust rules, encouraging enterprises to establish mechanisms for sharing non-sensitive information and for sound collaboration so as to avoid disorderly competition overseas.

In terms of composition, the participants include both industry associations and nearly 30 leading enterprises across the full supply chain, covering fields ranging from traditional ferrous and non-ferrous metals to key new energy minerals. They include resource development companies such as China Minmetals, Zijin Mining and CMOC, as well as downstream application companies such as ZTE, JA Solar and Hithium.

On the international background, during the 2025 Group of Twenty summit, China proposed the Initiative on International Economic and Trade Cooperation for Green Minerals; in July 2026, the United Nations High-Level Meeting on Critical Minerals put forward the concept of a just transition. The industry self-regulatory code released this time represents an industry-level implementation of these international consensuses and concepts.