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The Chinese government is taking every means to protect its rare earth resource.
Recently, rare earth has become a hot issue in the world. Why does the United States close its rich rare earth resource? For what strategic purposes does Japan import so much rare earth? Why is rare earth so important? Why do the developed countries like Japan and the United States keep their pressures on China to force it to keep exporting rare earth at low prices while the resource in China is rapidly shrinking?
Today, China holds about 33.3% of the world’s rare earth resource while over 90% of the world’s supply is from China. To protect the environment and facilitate the sustainable development of China’s strategic natural resources, Ministry of Land and Resources specifies the first 11 state-planned mining zones, totally covering over 2,500 square kilometers, hopefully to raise the medium and heavy rare earth reserves in China by 80%.
The Protection of Rare Earth by Chinese Government
China’s First State-Planned Mining Zone of Rare Earth in Ganzhou
According to the Ministry of Land and Resources, it is estimated that the rare earth reserves in Ganzhou is up to 760,000 tons, with 710,000 of it being medium and heavy rare earth, hopefully to raise the medium and heavy rare earth reserves in China by 80%. On the other hand, two iron zones are established in Panzhihua, Sichuan Province, covering over 460 square kilometers.
The state-planned mining zones are founded for rare earth mines and iron mines in terms of the exploring plan issued by the state to protect the environment and facilitate the sustainable development of China’s strategic natural resources.
Why Are State-Planned Mining Zones Established in China?
The state-planned mining zones are established to protect rare earth which is a dying resource as well as to protect the environment. China still relies a lot on overseas iron resources with imports of more than 50% despite increasing mining output in China. Hence, it is necessary for China to pay more attention to the prospecting of new iron mines to ensure itself a stable supply.
The principles to plan the mining zones are based on the importance and the distribution of the resources. The rare earth resource in China is predominant in the world—Ganzhou is one of the major suppliers of ion-absorbed medium heavy rare earth in China with mining and output over 70%, which is even significant to the whole world.
The other principle to plan the mining zones is based on the geological characters. Most mines prospected in Ganzhou are rich in ion-absorbed rare earth. The state-planned zones include the exiting zones for ion-absorbed mines and potential ion-absorbed mines with large scales in Ganzhou. On the other hand, Panxi is one of the few areas in China with rich iron resource, which is potential for large scale developing.
Rare Earth Export Falls by 11.4%
It is announced by Ministry of Commerce that the first export of rare earth in 2011 is 14,446 tons, 11.4% less than it was 16,304 tons in 2010. Xu Xu, the president of China Chamber of Commerce of Metals Minerals and Chemicals Importers and Exporters, says that the shortening of China’s rare earth reserves results from over-exploitation, which is a great damage to the environment, so the limits on the mining of resources like rare earth is reasonable and acceptable.
He says that rare earth as a reproducible resource needs proper limits on mining, production, consumption and export to protect the environment, which is subject to WTO regulations, so he quite understands what Chinese government has done.
He believes that it is good to have a reasonable and stable output of rare earth instead of over-exploitation to keep the supply; meanwhile he hopes new technologies are introduced into China to help the application of rare earth while China is still stably holding the overseas markets of rare earth.
Recently, rare earth has become a hot issue in the world. Why does the United States close its rich rare earth resource? For what strategic purposes does Japan import so much rare earth? Why is rare earth so important? Why do the developed countries like Japan and the United States keep their pressures on China to force it to keep exporting rare earth at low prices while the resource in China is rapidly shrinking?
Today, China holds about 33.3% of the world’s rare earth resource while over 90% of the world’s supply is from China. To protect the environment and facilitate the sustainable development of China’s strategic natural resources, Ministry of Land and Resources specifies the first 11 state-planned mining zones, totally covering over 2,500 square kilometers, hopefully to raise the medium and heavy rare earth reserves in China by 80%.
The Protection of Rare Earth by Chinese Government
China’s First State-Planned Mining Zone of Rare Earth in Ganzhou
According to the Ministry of Land and Resources, it is estimated that the rare earth reserves in Ganzhou is up to 760,000 tons, with 710,000 of it being medium and heavy rare earth, hopefully to raise the medium and heavy rare earth reserves in China by 80%. On the other hand, two iron zones are established in Panzhihua, Sichuan Province, covering over 460 square kilometers.
The state-planned mining zones are founded for rare earth mines and iron mines in terms of the exploring plan issued by the state to protect the environment and facilitate the sustainable development of China’s strategic natural resources.
Why Are State-Planned Mining Zones Established in China?
The state-planned mining zones are established to protect rare earth which is a dying resource as well as to protect the environment. China still relies a lot on overseas iron resources with imports of more than 50% despite increasing mining output in China. Hence, it is necessary for China to pay more attention to the prospecting of new iron mines to ensure itself a stable supply.
The principles to plan the mining zones are based on the importance and the distribution of the resources. The rare earth resource in China is predominant in the world—Ganzhou is one of the major suppliers of ion-absorbed medium heavy rare earth in China with mining and output over 70%, which is even significant to the whole world.
The other principle to plan the mining zones is based on the geological characters. Most mines prospected in Ganzhou are rich in ion-absorbed rare earth. The state-planned zones include the exiting zones for ion-absorbed mines and potential ion-absorbed mines with large scales in Ganzhou. On the other hand, Panxi is one of the few areas in China with rich iron resource, which is potential for large scale developing.
Rare Earth Export Falls by 11.4%
It is announced by Ministry of Commerce that the first export of rare earth in 2011 is 14,446 tons, 11.4% less than it was 16,304 tons in 2010. Xu Xu, the president of China Chamber of Commerce of Metals Minerals and Chemicals Importers and Exporters, says that the shortening of China’s rare earth reserves results from over-exploitation, which is a great damage to the environment, so the limits on the mining of resources like rare earth is reasonable and acceptable.
He says that rare earth as a reproducible resource needs proper limits on mining, production, consumption and export to protect the environment, which is subject to WTO regulations, so he quite understands what Chinese government has done.
He believes that it is good to have a reasonable and stable output of rare earth instead of over-exploitation to keep the supply; meanwhile he hopes new technologies are introduced into China to help the application of rare earth while China is still stably holding the overseas markets of rare earth.