Rare earths to see high-quality development

Visitors check out rare-earth material samples during an international mineral cooperation forum in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, in May 2023. (YU JING/CHINA NEWS SERVICE)

China's efforts to promote high-quality development of the rare-earth metals and minerals sector will offer strong impetus to the industry's green and standardized development amid growing demand for crucial raw materials from emerging areas like new energy vehicles, said industry experts and company executives.

Their comments came as the country is stepping up efforts to drive the sector's high-quality development after unveiling new regulations on mining, smelting and trading of rare-earth metals and alloys in late June.

Rare-earth metals and alloys are chemical elements indispensable to low-carbon technologies, such as the production of electric vehicles, smartphones and other advanced high-tech products.

The regulation, issued by the State Council — China's Cabinet — said the country will encourage and support the research, development and application of new technologies, products, materials and equipment in the rare-earth sector.

The Chinese government will carry out "unified planning" for the development of the rare-earth sector, and pay equal attention to the protection of resources and the development and utilization of such resources, according to the new regulation, which will take effect on Oct 1.

Ge Honglin, Party secretary and president of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, said that rare-earth elements, often referred to as "industrial vitamins", are crucial raw materials for high-tech industries and the national defense sector.

"China's rare-earth industry faces challenges in areas such as protective resource development, original technological innovation and industry order regulation," Ge said, adding that the new regulation addresses these challenges.

China has been making significant contributions to meeting domestic and international demand for these crucial chemical elements, which in turn is creating considerable pressure on the country's natural resources, Ge said.

The new regulation underscores the need for protective resource development and calls for planned utilization of rare-earth elements in order to drive green and high-quality development of the sector, he said.

Last year, China accounted for about 60 percent of global rare-earth mining and close to 90 percent of processing and refining, said the International Energy Agency.

Over recent years in China, disorderly mining gave way to rational regulation, and bulk exports of rare earths are gradually being replaced by increased imports, according to a report released by China AVIC Securities.

China's status has changed from being the largest exporter of rare-earth resources to becoming a country that consumes rare earths, with the rapid increase in demand for wind power, new energy vehicles, and other energy-saving and emission-reduction technologies driving this shift, said the report.

Meanwhile, data from the United States Geological Survey showed that as of 2022, the world's total reserves of rare earths were estimated to be 130 million metric tons, of which China possessed 44 million tons, or 33.8 percent.

Ao Hong, Party secretary and chairman of China Rare Earth Group Co Ltd, said that global demand for rare earths is rapidly increasing from strategic emerging industries like new energy vehicles, wind power and intelligent manufacturing, as well as the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries such as energy-saving motors.

"The new regulation will help to drive a win-win industrial ecosystem for upstream and downstream in meeting such supply and demand across the world," Ao said.

A rare-earth element tracking system has been proposed in the regulation. Companies involved in mining, smelting and separation of rare-earth elements, as well as in the export of products made with the use of such elements, will now have to establish a system to record the flow of their products.

Liu Peixun, deputy general manager of Baogang Group, one of the world's largest production and research bases for rare-earth elements — based in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region — said this is the first time that the country is regulating the development and utilization of rare-earth resources through legislation, which will be a "milestone" regulation for companies.

"Inspired by such efforts, our company will strive to make the process of rare-earth production more eco-friendly, make related equipment smarter and upgrade related technologies, in order to increase the added value of rare-earth products," Liu said, noting that the company sincerely supports China's industrial transformation.

He added that Baogang Group is also stepping up efforts to help build a national-level trade center for rare-earth elements.