I. Why Henan Became a Non-Ferrous Metal Smelting Province

Henan's non-ferrous metal industry is not built on resource endowment — local bauxite reserves are limited, and lead-zinc ore deposits are modest by national standards. What brought this province to its current position is three decades of steadily layered processing capacity along transport corridors.

By the numbers, non-ferrous metal smelting and processing has consistently ranked among Henan's top five industrial sectors by revenue. In 2024, Henan's value-added output of above-scale industry grew 8.1% year-on-year, with non-ferrous metal smelting and processing growing 11.5% — above the provincial industrial average (Source: Henan Provincial Bureau of Statistics). Under the provincial government's "7+28+N" key industry chain framework, the advanced aluminum-based materials chain is a stated strategic priority, targeting a provincial industry scale of 400 billion yuan by 2025.

The geographic distribution follows clear corridor logic: a primary aluminum axis runs from Zhengzhou through Gongyi to Sanmenxia along the Yellow River's south bank; a lead-zinc belt clusters around Jiyuan and Jiaozuo along the southern Taihang Mountains; and Luoyang's Luanchuan County stands independently as a molybdenum-tungsten resource base. These three axes do not overlap, but all leverage Central China's dense road and rail networks.

II. Gongyi: From No Local Ore to China's Aluminum Capital

Gongyi produces no aluminum domestically — all alumina feedstock is brought in from Shanxi, Guizhou, and other provinces. Yet this has not prevented it from becoming China's largest aluminum plate, strip, and foil processing base. By end-2022, Gongyi's aluminum plate-strip-foil output reached approximately 5.9 million tonnes, representing 57.6% of Henan's total and 28.4% of the national total (Source: China Non-Ferrous Metals Processing Industry Association).

Two listed companies anchor this structure. Mintai Aluminum (601677.SH) focuses on high-end aluminum plate-strip-foil, with 2024 sales volume of 1.47 million tonnes (up 19% year-on-year) and annual revenue of 32.321 billion yuan (Source: Mintai Aluminum 2024 Annual Report). Zhongfu Industrial (600595.SH) spans both electrolytic aluminum and aluminum processing; its 2024 electrolytic aluminum output was approximately 408,800 tonnes, and it completed an acquisition in the same year that raised its equity capacity to 750,000 tonnes (Source: Zhongfu Industrial 2024 Annual Report).

Gongyi also hosts Yulian Group and other companies with revenues in the tens of billions, along with over 100 above-scale aluminum deep-processing enterprises concentrated around Huiguo Town. This density creates strong cluster efficiency — tooling, coating, and logistics services are locally available at low cost. In 2023, Gongyi's GDP exceeded 101 billion yuan, making it Henan's first "trillion-yuan county," with aluminum and aluminum deep-processing as the primary driver (Source: Dahe Net).

III. Jiyuan: Multi-Metal Smelting Center for Lead, Silver, and Copper

Yuguang Gold & Lead (600531.SH) is the representative enterprise of Jiyuan's non-ferrous smelting sector and one of China's largest listed lead smelters by output. In 2024, the company produced 555,600 tonnes of lead products, 164,900 tonnes of cathode copper, 1,566.24 tonnes of silver, and 15.13 tonnes of gold; full-year revenue reached 39.345 billion yuan (up 22.40% year-on-year), with net profit attributable to shareholders of 807 million yuan (up 38.88%), setting new historical highs across multiple operating indicators (Source: Yuguang Gold & Lead 2024 Annual Report).

Yuguang's smelting technology has been upgraded from traditional blast furnace methods to oxygen-enriched bottom-blowing, placing it at the industry frontier for lead recovery rates and pollutant control. Silver is the company's single largest revenue product — silver product revenue reached 10.012 billion yuan in 2024 — an unusual characteristic among domestic lead smelters.

The concentration of lead-zinc smelting in Jiyuan originally depended on ore resources from western Henan and southern Shanxi, but as nearby mine grades have declined, today's smelters draw from a diversified feedstock mix: domestic secondary lead, imported lead concentrates, and overseas recycled materials. The industry's core competency has migrated toward smelting technology and precious metals comprehensive recovery capability.

IV. Luoyang Luanchuan: Deep Processing Transformation of Molybdenum-Tungsten Resources

CMOC Group (603993.SH / 3993.HK), headquartered in Luoyang, is the largest and most internationalized enterprise in Henan's non-ferrous sector. The company operates molybdenum-tungsten mines in Luanchuan locally, as well as copper-cobalt mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Brazil, forming a cross-border mining group spanning exploration, mining, concentration, and smelting.

In 2023, CMOC achieved revenue of 186.269 billion yuan and net profit attributable to shareholders of 8.25 billion yuan (up 35.98% year-on-year); 2024 net profit is forecast at 12.8–14.2 billion yuan (up 55%–72%) (Source: CMOC Group official news releases). 2023 molybdenum output was 15,635 tonnes (up 3% year-on-year), with deep-processed products including ferromolybdenum, ammonium molybdate, and molybdenum wire.

Luanchuan's strategic distinctiveness lies in molybdenum's status as a critical metal with globally concentrated supply. CMOC holds equity interests in some of the world's largest molybdenum reserves, giving Henan a level of strategic importance in this sub-segment that transcends the role of an ordinary processing province.

V. Structural Pressures: Upstream Dependence and Downstream Extension

The structural challenges facing Henan's non-ferrous smelting are most visible in the aluminum sector.

On the raw materials side, Henan has virtually no local bauxite. Alumina is almost entirely sourced from other provinces or imported, meaning that electrolytic aluminum and aluminum processing enterprises are highly sensitive to alumina price fluctuations. In 2023–2024, alumina prices experienced sharp swings that compressed per-tonne margins at multiple enterprises.

On the energy side, electrolytic aluminum is the highest carbon-emitting smelting process in the non-ferrous sector, with average power consumption exceeding 13,000 kWh per tonne. National development authorities set a 2025 target requiring at least 30% of electrolytic aluminum capacity to meet benchmark energy efficiency standards and at least 25% of power to come from renewables; both targets have reportedly been met ahead of schedule, but further improvement of renewable energy ratios is constrained by Henan's less favorable wind and solar conditions relative to northwestern China (Source: National Development and Reform Commission policy interpretation, July 2024).

On the downstream side, the value-chain extension opportunity in aluminum processing is substantial. Gongyi enterprises are currently concentrated in mid-gauge aluminum plate-strip-foil; high-value products such as aerospace aluminum alloys and high-strength aluminum profiles for new energy vehicles still primarily depend on proprietary processes held by research institutions and specialized manufacturers, and breaking into these segments requires sustained R&D investment and customer qualification cycles.

In the lead-zinc segment, the challenge comes from raw material processing fees. In 2024, domestic and international lead-zinc concentrate processing fees dropped to historically extreme lows, directly pressuring cost structures at concentrate-based smelters such as Yuguang (Source: China Non-Ferrous Metals News, 2024).

VI. How Upstream Suppliers Access the Henan Non-Ferrous Cluster

The sheer scale of Henan's non-ferrous smelting cluster generates a correspondingly large market for upstream materials and industrial services: alumina, anode carbon blocks, and fluoride salts for electrolytic aluminum; refractory materials and furnace lining for smelting operations; automation and energy monitoring systems; and secondary lead feedstock sourcing. These procurement needs are distributed across dozens of smelters and processors in Gongyi, Jiyuan, and Sanmenxia.

Sales teams supplying upstream materials to non-ferrous smelters can use Tianxia Gongchang to filter Henan province non-ferrous metal smelting and processing enterprises by region and industry, accessing factory directories and key procurement contact details.

VII. Research Institute Observations

Henan's non-ferrous metal smelting trajectory over the next decade is likely to be structural adjustment rather than capacity expansion alone: aluminum processing climbing toward precision and high-specification products, electrolytic aluminum shifting toward green power and secondary aluminum, lead smelting pivoting toward comprehensive recovery and recycled lead, and molybdenum-tungsten continuing the international mining rights strategy through CMOC.

This adjustment direction aligns closely with the provincial "7+28+N" industrial chain policy framework. Whether it materializes depends on the continuity of enterprise R&D investment and the depth of the talent supply system. Henan holds an enormous industrial foundation, but in a capital-intensive and technology-intensive industry like non-ferrous metals, the path from scale to strength has never been linear.

Data Sources

  • Tianxia Gongchang (Henan non-ferrous metal smelting and processing factory directory and industry data)
  • Henan Provincial Bureau of Statistics, "2024 Above-Scale Industrial Value-Added Growth 8.1%" and "7+28+N" Industry Chain Development Report, January 2025
  • Yuguang Gold & Lead Co., Ltd. 2024 Annual Report (600531.SH, disclosed April 26, 2025)
  • Mintai Aluminum Co., Ltd. 2024 Annual Report (601677.SH, disclosed April 23, 2025)
  • Zhongfu Industrial Co., Ltd. 2024 Annual Report (600595.SH, disclosed April 16, 2025)
  • CMOC Group official news releases: 2023 production data and 2024 profit forecast
  • National Development and Reform Commission, policy interpretation on electrolytic aluminum green low-carbon development, July 2024
  • China Non-Ferrous Metals Processing Industry Association, China Aluminum Processing Industry 2024 Chronicle
  • Dahe Net, "Aluminum Hits New Highs: Gongyi's Trillion-Yuan Economy Accelerates Toward Two Trillion," March 2024