Abstract: Resource endowment is identified as the primary cause of geographical concentration or agglomeration of resource-based industries. Nevertheless, these industries seem to be able to get rid of resource dependency due to the improving condition of traffic, technology and trade which, in turn, leads to significant spatial dynamics. This paper used locational Gini coefficient to describe the spatial pattern of resource-based industries in China during 1998-2007. Building on this premise, a decomposition method was employed to explore the spatial dynamics of these industries. We elaborate two major claims: 1) resource-based industries exhibited a stable level of concentration, but the result of decomposition revealed a significant trend of spatial mobility. Subject to the dependency of producing processes on natural resources, extractive industry distinguished itself from manufacturing industry due to its higher level of concentration. Moreover, industry mobility of extractive industry was more significant than that of manufacturing industry. 2) Extractive industry primarily concentrated in the inland areas, closely related with the distribution of natural resources. Unlike extractive industry, manufacturing industry tended to concentrate on the coastal area where there are robust and competitive industrial bases. Although there were significant spatial dynamics of both extractive and manufacturing industries, the differentiated spatial patterns of these two sectors never changed. Moreover, resource-based industries did not concentrate at port cities as it was anticipated. On the other hand, a lot of resource-based cities still relied heavily on extractive industries, and are mired in decades of transformation.