State Key Laboratory of Critical Mineral Research and Exploration was established by integrating the former State Key Laboratory of Ore Deposit Geochemistry with the Key Laboratory of High-Temperature and High-Pressure Study of the Earth's Interior, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), along with advantageous research groups from Central South University and Peking University. Its construction was approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China in January 2025. The laboratory currently has 146 permanent staff members, including 123 researchers and 22 technical personnel. Among them, there are 75 professors and 54 associate professors. The team comprises 2 academicians of the CAS, 7 recipients of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (Type A), 6 recipients of the National Science Fund for Excellent Young Scholars (Type B)/overseas excellent young scholars, 6 scholars under the National Thousand Talents Plan, 6 leading talents under the National Ten Thousand Talents Plan, and 22 scholars under the CAS Hundred Talents Plan. Its members hold over 180 positions such as chairs/vice-chairs/secretaries-general and editors-in-chief/associate editors/editorial board members in key domestic and international academic organizations and journals. With 112 scientific personnel under the age of 50, the laboratory constitutes a leading team with a well-structured personnel composition and strong interdisciplinary integration, capable of robustly supporting original research on the metallogeny and prediction of critical minerals.

The laboratory primarily addresses major national demands for critical minerals and international scientific frontiers. Confronting the severe challenges China faces regarding critical minerals, its mission is to reveal the processes, regularities, and mechanisms governing the mobilization, migration, and enrichment of critical metals. It aims to create metallogenic models and industry standards for new types of critical metal deposits, as well as theoretical and methodological systems for the metallogeny and prediction of typical critical metal deposits, thereby providing scientific and technological support to secure China's strategic reserve of critical mineral resources. To tackle key scientific questions, the laboratory focuses on three main research directions: (1) Key technologies for metallogenic tracing and prospecting exploration, primarily including in-situ mineral micro-area dating, element-isotope analysis, theoretical calculations and experimental simulations of element partitioning and isotope fractionation, geological-geochemical identification of mineralization effects, high-resolution geophysical detection, and high-temperature and high-pressure physical property measurements; (2) Element mobilization, migration, and mineralization, mainly covering the processes of cross-sphere material and energy exchange and the cycling of critical metal elements, the intrinsic links between differential mineralization of critical minerals and cross-sphere material cycling, and the optimal coupling mechanisms between the occurrence states of critical metal elements and ore-forming elements; (3) Intelligent prediction of critical minerals, mainly including the transformation of metallogenic models into prospecting models, the four-dimensional structural characterization of ore deposit positioning, the intelligent identification of mineralization terminal effects, and the intelligent prediction using big data from geology, geophysics, geochemistry, and remote sensing.

In the field of critical mineral metallogeny and prediction, the laboratory holds a distinct domestic leading advantage and is irreplaceable, primarily evidenced by: (1) Leading domestic research capabilities. It represents the national pinnacle in research areas such as the metallogenesis of stratabound deposits, low-temperature deposits, and giant deposits; the metallogenesis of dispersed elements; intracontinental metallogenesis; mafic-ultramafic magmatic metallogenesis; and the metallogenesis of carbonate-clay type lithium deposits. Over the past decade, its theoretical guidance has led to major prospecting breakthroughs, with a potential value exceeding 2 trillion RMB. (2) Strong capacity for undertaking national tasks. It has led the most National Program on Key Basic Research Project (973 Program) (3 projects) and National Climbing Program projects (3 projects) in China's mineral resources field. It has also led the acquisition of the only First Prize of National Natural Science Award (1 prize) and four Second Prizes of National Natural Science Award in this field. (3) Academic achievements ranking among the top tier domestically and internationally. It has published the highest number of papers in the three premier international journals of ore deposit geology (Economic Geology, Mineralium Deposita, and Ore Geology Reviews). Compared to renowned Western laboratories of comparable scale in this field (such as the Centre for Ore Deposit and Earth Sciences—CODES in Australia), its publications in these three top-tier international journals and mainstream international solid earth science journals have now roughly surpassed them.

Currently, the major projects undertaken by the laboratory include: 1 project each under the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (A) and (B); 3 projects and 8 tasks under the National Key Research and Development Program; 2 projects and 3 tasks under the National Science and Technology Major Project for Deep Earth Exploration; 6 Key Projects, 4 Major Research Plan Projects, 2 Major Project Tasks, 2 International (Regional) Cooperation and Exchange Projects, 1 Innovative Research Group Project, 2 projects for Distinguished Young Scholars (Type A), 1 project for Excellent Young Scholars (Type B), 3 projects for Overseas Excellent Young Scholars, 3 "From 0 to 1" Original Exploration Projects, and 69 General and Young Scientists (Type C) Fund projects from the National Natural Science Foundation of China; 1 long-term National Thousand Talents Plan project, 1 National Ten Thousand Talents Plan Leading Talent project, and 4 projects for Young top-notch talents of the Organization Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China; 1 Major Special Project of Guizhou Province, 1 Project for Central Government Guided Local Science and Technology Development Fund Projects, and 3 Scientific Research Projects on Science and Technology Innovation Platforms; 2 CAS Hundred Talents Plan Class A projects and 3 Class B projects; and 1 "LZ" Project from the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Science and Technology. The total contractual funding for these projects exceeds 750 million RMB.

The laboratory currently possesses over 40 units of large-scale instrumental equipment each valued at more than 500,000 RMB. This equipment includes NanoSIMS, LA-(MC)-ICP-MS, MC-ICP-MS, stable isotope ratio mass spectrometers, noble gas mass spectrometers, TIMS, ICP-OES, electron probe microanalyzers, scanning electron microscopes, comprehensive mineral analysis systems, scanning probe microscopes, laser Raman spectrometers, X-ray fluorescence spectrometers, X-ray diffractometers, piston-cylinder presses, hydrothermal diamond anvil cells, ultra-wideband electromagnetic instruments, magnetotelluric systems, transient electromagnetic systems, and ground-penetrating radars. This constitutes a nationally comprehensive, uniquely equipped, and internationally first-class technological platform for mineral resource research. It includes world-class platforms for element-isotope composition determination, mineral microstructure and morphology observation, mineralization experiment-computational simulation, and geophysical detection, providing robust technical support for research on the metallogeny and prediction of critical minerals.