A Chinese legislator Friday called for the establishment of a national reserve system as soon as possible to protect a rare mineral tellurium.

Chu Junhao, a deputy to the National People's Congress (NPC), the country's top legislature, suggested that the government set up a special fund to finance the reserve and ban commercial prospecting activities in tellurium-rich regions.

The mineral, with an estimated reserve of only 149,000 tonnes worldwide, is a key material to produce a new type of solar battery, according to Chu, also an academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.