China's mineral shortages good news for Australia

China's resources minister says while his country's building up its own mining induconveyor belt manufacturers in indiastry, there will still be strong demand for overseas resources to fuel the nation's future growth.

Land and Resources Minister Xu Shaoshi told the 34th International Geological Congress in Brisbane that while China had strong supplies of some minerals such as tungsten and tin, it was short in other areas such as iron ore.

“Given the unequal distribution of resources, there are very few nations that can meet all their own minerals requirements,” he said.

“We will rely first and foremost on our own resources and will step up our domestic production of minerals.”

Mr Xu is leading a Chinese delegation of 700, easily the largest contingent at the conference, which is held every four years. This is only the second time it has been held in Australia.

Mr Xu said the conference was important in the context of a “sluggish world economy, a sluggish US economy, and sovereignty issues in Europe, which have the potential to affect the economic growth of China”.