Our country has discovered new high-purity quartz deposits in the eastern Qinling Mountains of Henan Province and the Altay region of Xinjiang. On April 10, the Ministry of Natural Resources issued Announcement No. 22 of 2025: With the approval of the State Council, high-purity quartz ore has become my country's 174th new mineral species. This also marks the successful completion of the application process for high-purity quartz ore, undertaken by the Henan Provincial Department of Natural Resources, marking a breakthrough in the number of new mineral species applications since the department was established.

High-purity quartz, with its high-temperature resistance, corrosion resistance, low thermal expansion, high insulation, and light transmittance, is a key basic material for strategic emerging industries such as semiconductors and photovoltaics, playing a vital role in national scientific and technological competition. Producing high-purity quartz requires high-purity quartz raw material ore—also known as high-purity quartz ore.

The newly designated high-purity quartz ore refers to rocks that, under current technical and economic conditions, can be beneficiated and purified to produce high-purity quartz sand with a silicon dioxide (SiO2) purity of at least 99.995% (4N5), and whose impurity, inclusion content, and particle size meet the requirements for applications in high-tech fields such as semiconductors, photovoltaics, and optics. Depending on the ore type, high-purity quartz ore can be divided into granite pegmatite, vein quartz, natural crystal, and quartzite types. The beneficiation and purification product is high-purity quartz sand.

Starting in 2023, the Provincial Department of Natural Resources, commissioned by the Ministry of Natural Resources, has undertaken the application process for the new high-purity quartz ore application. The department established a special working group and, based on a systematic review of materials, extensive expert consultation, and in-depth field research, compiled the "Application Report for the New High-Purity Quartz Ore Application" (hereinafter referred to as the "Report"). In 2024, the Ministry of Natural Resources held three seminars in Beijing to systematically review the "Report." The academicians and experts attending the meeting considered the report's content detailed and well-founded, and unanimously agreed to designate high-purity quartz ore as a new mineral species.

As a globally scarce strategic resource, for which my country is highly dependent on imports, high-purity quartz ore is unevenly distributed globally. Its unique mineralization geological characteristics and mining conditions distinguish it from other minerals. In recent years, domestic prospecting and exploration have made significant breakthroughs, with the discovery of numerous high-purity quartz mining areas in Henan, Xinjiang, and other regions. Numerous domestic research institutions and enterprises have developed key technologies and equipment for rapid screening, deep purification, and targeted impurity removal of high-purity quartz ore, supporting its widespread utilization. A substantial industrial chain has been established in China, making high-purity quartz ore eligible for inclusion in my country's mineral species family.

"The establishment of high-purity quartz as a new mineral species is crucial for promoting the localization of high-purity quartz ore-related industrial resources and ensuring the security of my country's high-tech industrial chain and supply chain," said a representative from the Provincial Department of Natural Resources. (Source: Henan Daily, Reporter Tan Yong, Correspondents Wang Xing and Wang Zhihui)