Critical metal minerals, such as rare earths, tungsten, antimony, cobalt, lithium, and tantalum, play a vital role in safeguarding national economic stability and defense security. With escalating global demand and intensifying competition for these resources, establishing a robust critical metal mineral reserve system has become a priority for China to ensure supply stability, protect resource security, and support high-quality industrial development. This study clarifies the scope of critical metal minerals, reviews reserve policies and operational frameworks of major international players, and analyzes China's current reserve system, covering top-level design, operational mechanisms, reserve potential, storage infrastructure, and civilian stockpiles. Moreover, it identifies key challenges: misalignment of reserve scales with resource security needs, inadequate standardization of reserve release procedures, ambiguous rights and responsibilities of designated reserve enterprises, and underdeveloped risk early-warning mechanisms. To address these gaps, the study proposes strengthening legislative frameworks for critical mineral reserves, expanding stockpiles of supply-constrained metals, optimizing dynamic reserve mechanisms, and establishing a nationwide monitoring, early-warning, and dynamic assessment system. These recommendations ultimately aim to fortify resource security, enhance industrial chain resilience, and provide safeguards against international market volatility and sudden supply disruptions.