> Tibet has huge reserves of copper, lithium, gold and silver. Most of it has never been touched, because the Tibetans didn't mine the land: it's against their religious practices to disturb the ground. But China has begun mining on an enormous scale.
My understanding is that the bigger issue is that Tibet is bordered on the West by a geographical barrier in the Himalayas, whereas the Eastern border with China is relatively unprotected. Given the tensions between India and China, it makes sense that China would want to exert influence over the geographical region of Tibet.
from https://www.pri.org/stories/2014-11-24/new-book-documents-ch...