Thorium is another nuclear fuel other than uranium, and thorium- based molten salt reactors are one of the reactor types of the fourth generation of nuclear power technology. In recent years, breakthroughs in the development and application of thorium resources have brought development opportunities and challenges to the investigation and evaluation of thorium resources. This paper summarizes the current research progress of thorium resources in China's investigation and evaluation, potential prediction and metallogenic theory: it divides the thorium metallogenic belts and thorium genesis types in China, and constructs the metallogenic models of typical deposits in different genetic type, which lays a foundation for the research of the basic theory of thorium resources. The investigation and evaluation method of thorium resources and the prediction technology of digital telescope were established, which provided technical support for the potential evaluation of the thorium resources in China. The metallogenic mechanism of thorium was analyzed. It looks forward to the development prospect of available types of thorium resources in China, and analyzes the problems existing in the investigation and evaluation work of thorium resources. It provides a reference for the future deployment of thorium resource exploration and development.