Abstract: The distribution and characteristics of lithium mineral resources in China were analyzed and their technical deve- lopment progress was introduced.The process routes of extracting lithium carbonate from different lithium mineral resources in China were analyzed and compared.Because of the high ratio of Mg/Li，the extraction of lithium carbonate from the brine of salt lakes，such as Qinghai salt lake had the technological bottleneck all the time and the separation of lithium from magnesium was hard to be realized with the present techniques.Thus lithium minerals will still be the main lithium resources in China in a relatively long period，based on the richness of lithium mineral resources in China.Therefore，China should pay more attention to the technical research on lithium mineral resources and intensify the research and development work，so that the lithium mineral resources could be utilized effectively and protectively.

Key words: lithium mineral resources, lepidolite, lithium carbonate, lithium extraction from salt brine