One doesn't have to go back too far in history, only to the late 1980s, when the Peoples Republic of China's relevance to the world mining industry was largely confined to its role as a producer and exporter of a handful of minor metals, such as tungsten, and industrial minerals, such as magnesite. While these were relatively small markets, China was in many cases the dominant component of world supply.For the major base metals like copper, aluminium and zinc, China was in world terms a relatively small consumer and was largely able to meet domestic demand from its own resources. Supply deficits were made up for by occasional lumpy purchases from western sources.
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