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The giant mine in Bayan Obo, Inner Mongolia near Baotou City, produces the bulk of the world’s rare earths and does so as a byproduct of iron ore mining.China, the world’s largest supplier of rare earths, said it would coordinate the exploration, development, utilization and standardized management in the industry, the state broadcaster said on Friday, highlighting the importance Beijing attaches to the strategic mineral resource.
But dominance in supply of rare earths in the world’s second-largest economy has been challenged by continued efforts made by countries outside China to diversify supply chain to reduce dependence on China. Beijing controls its supply of rare earths in the form of issuing quotas, typically twice a year, which is also a way to address the longstanding problems with illegal mining.Its full-year rare earths quota for mining output as well as smelting and separation in 2023 stood at 240,000 metric tons and 230,000 tons, respectively, both posing a year-on-year increase of 14%, versus an annual increase of 25% in 2022.