Outline on the development and Policies of China R

OutlineonthedevelopmentandPoliciesofChinaRareEarthindustryChenZhanheng,PH.D.,DirectorAcademicDepartment,theChineseSocietyofRareEarthsNo.76,XueYuanNanLu,ZipCode100081BeijingChinaEmail:[e-mail]:InoticedthattherewasmisunderstandingonChinarareearthindustry.YoucanfindtherealsituationinChina.Thisarticlepreparedforthosewhocareaboutrareearths.ChinaRareEarthIndustrystartedin1950’s,after50yearsofdevelopmentandconstruction,remarkableachievementsinresourceutilizationandscience&technologyhavebeenmade.Chinahasbecomethelargestcountryofrare-earthdeposits,producer,consumerandexporter.1.ResourcesUptonow,Chinaisstillthelargestcountryofrare-earthdeposits.RareearthminesdistributedwidelyinChinaandabout88%ofrareearthdepositsconcentratedinBaotou,Sichuan,andJiangxi.Figure1showsrareearthproportionindifferentregion.Figure1showsthatRareearthminesdistributewidelyinChina,fromthenorthtothesouth.About88%ofrareearthdepositsconcentratedinBaotou,Sichuan,andJiangxi.wecanfindthatabout83%locatedinBaiyunebo,Baotou,InnerMongolia,8%inShandongprovince,3%inSichuanprovince,featuredaslightrareearthdeposits(La,Ce,Pr,NdSm,Eu,).3%ofthedepositslocatedinthesouthofChina,representedbyJiangxiprovince,featuredasmiddleandheavyrareearthdeposits(Middle:Gd,Tb,Dy,Ho,Heavy:Er,Tm,Yb,Lu,Sc,Y).Fig.1RareearthproportionanddistributioninChinaUptonow,Chinaisstillthelargestcountryofrare-earthdeposits.Accordingtorelateddata,in2005,theprovedreservesinChinaare67.80milliontons,namely55%oftheworldtotalrareearthreserves.Butinmyopinion,withthediscoveryofnewrareearthdepositsworldwideandconsumptionoftheprovedrareearthreservesinChina,thisratioisdeclining,isestimatedas35%,andwillcontinuetodecline.Fig.2showsproportionchangeofChinarareearthreservesagainstthewholeworld.2.ProductionMostoftherareearthenterpriseslocatearoundthelargerareearthmines,suchasBaotoucity,SichuanprovinceandGanzhoucity.Thereareabout24enterprisesforrareearthconcentrateproduction,and100rareearthenterprisesforsmeltingseparationproductioninChina.Conservativeestimate,therareearthproductioncapacityhasreached170thousandtonsperyear,andmightsurpass200thousandtonsperyear.Surroundingrareearthdeposits,threemajorproducingareasformed,andcharacterizedastheNorthandtheSouthproductionsystems.Thethreemajorproducingareas:A.NorthproducingareabasedonrawmaterialsfromBaotou,withseparationcapacityof80thousandtons.B.Middleandheavyrareearthproducingareawithseparationcapacityof60thousandtonsbasedonrawmaterialsfromthesevenprovincesinthesouthofChina,mainlyinJiangxiprovince,Ganzhoucity.C.Therefinedbastnaesiteconcentratesproducingareawithseparationcapacityof30thousandtons.Twoproducingsystemsoflightandheavyrareearthsare:Thenorthtechnicalsystem,characterizedaslightrareearthproducts,themainproductsarerareearthconcentrates,alloys,mixedrareearthcompounds,metalsandsinglerareearthcompounds,andotherextensionproducts，suchaspolishingpowder,permanentmagneticmaterialsandhydrogenstoragealloys.Thesouthtechnicalsystem,characterizedasheavyrareearthproducts,themainproductsareallkindsofhighpuritysinglerareearthcompoundsandmetals,concentrates,mixedmetalsandalloys.2.1ProductStructure：Fig.3,Fig4,Fig.5,Fig.6showsoutputsofrareearthconcentrates,smeltingseparationproducts,metals,andoxidesrespectively.Itcanbenoticedthatbefore2006,theoutputsofallkindsofrareearthproductsincreasedsteadilyingeneral.Butasharpdecreaseoccurredin2007inallkindsofrareearthproducts.Comparedwith2006,theoutputsofconcentratesandsmeltingandextractingproductsin2007decreased8.8%and19.8%respectively.Thisshouldbeattributedtotheimplementofmandatoryplanningofrareearthproductionfortotalquantitycontrol.2.2Consumption:Figure7showstheconsumptionfrom1988to2008.ItcanbenoticedthattheconsumptionofrareearthsinChinaincreasedrapidlysince2004.Duringthe29yearsfrom1978to2007,Chinaannualconsumptionincreasedfrom1thousandtonsto72.6thousandtons,itwasatremendousincreaseof72.6times.Theconsumptionwas67.68thousandtonsin2008,aslightdecreasecomparedwiththatin2007.Figure8showsconsumptioncomparisonbetweenChinaandtheworld.From2005on,theconsumptionofChinasurpassed50%oftheworldtotalconsumption.Figure9showsconsumptionstructureofChinafrom1988to2008.InChina,rareearthsweremainlyconsumedintraditionalareasofmetallurgy,machinery,petroleumindustry，chemicalindustry，lightindustry,textileindustry,agriculture,innewmaterialslikemagnets,phosphors,hydrogenstorage,catalystsforautomobileexhaustandpolishingpowder.Therewasadramaticchangeintheconsumptionstructure,theconsumptionofrareearthsinnewmaterialsincreasedveryfastsince2004.In1987,theconsumptionofrareearthsinnewmaterialswasonly1%,butin2007,itwas53%.In2008,itwasclaimedthatabout60%ofrareearthswasconsumedinnewmaterialsinChina.Bytheyearof2015,itisestimatedthatthedemandofrareearthsisexpectedtoreach210thousandtons;China'sdomesticdemandwillbe138,000tons.By2020,china’sdomesticdemandisexpectedtoreach190,000tons,including130,000tonsconsumedinhigh-techfields,accountfor68%ofglobaltotalconsumption.ItcanbeconcludedthatRareEarthNewMaterialshasbecomeamajorgrowthpointofChinarareearthindustry.2.3Exportatio