173 types of mineral resources already discovered in China: report

China had discovered a total of 173 kinds of mineral resources by the end of 2021, according to a report released by the Ministry of Natural Resources.

These mineral resources include 13 types of energy minerals, 59 kinds of metallic minerals, 95 kinds of nonmetallic minerals and six kinds of water and gases.

Among these, China saw a rapid production of energy minerals, with last year's primary energy production being equal to 4.33 billion tons of standard coal, an increase of 6.2 percent over the previous year.

Total energy consumption reached 5.24 billion tons of standard coal in 2021, up 5.2 percent year on year. The self-sufficiency rate of energy supply stood at 82.6 percent.

In 2021, coal consumption accounted for 56 percent of the total primary energy consumption, down 14.2 percentage points over a decade ago, the report showed.