The State Key Laboratory for Mineral Deposits Research is headed by the Ministry of Education, which is hosted by Nanjing University. This laboratory was initiated in 1991 with the financial support of $1.2 million provided by the World Bank. In October 1995, this laboratory was approved by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China and was officially put to use. This was the first State Key Laboratory of metal mineral resources research in China. The laboratory has building area of about 4000 m2 and houses a set of advanced instruments totaling about ¥100 million.

There are 70 permanent faculty members in the laboratory, including four academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, two distinguished professors in the “Chang Jiang Scholars” Program, eight award-winners of the “National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars”, nine award-winners of the “Science Fund for Outstanding Young Scholars”, five award-winners of the “Trans-Century Training Program Foundation for the Talents by the State Education Commission”, two award-winners of the “Youth Chang Jiang Scholars” Program, one member of the National Ten Thousand Talents Plan, and three members of the Youth One Thousand Talents Plan. The laboratory has also been funded by the Science Fund for “Creative Research Groups” by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.