Xu Guangxian believes that the development of rare earths in China faces six major problems

China is one of the countries rich in rare earth resources. Since the 1950s, China's rare earth industry has made great progress. After years of efforts, China has become the world’s largest producer, application, and exporter of rare earths. While the development of rare earths is benefiting people, the accompanying resources and environmental issues continue to proliferate.

Academician Xu Guangxian, who is hailed as the "Father of Rare Earths" in an interview with a reporter from China Economics and Information Technology, believes that at present, we should improve rare earth reserves, integrate related companies, handle the Baotou tailings dam crisis, and strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights. Rare earth resources recycling.

The problem of Baotou rare earth tailings dam needs to be solved. As a non-renewable natural resource, rare earths must take effective measures to protect and rationally use them. Over the years, China has worked hard to implement protective mining of rare earths and promote the sustainable use of resources. It is time to stop the mining of the Baotou Main East Mine and mine the West Mine. The Baotou main east mine is still being mined as iron ore. Rare earths are only mined at 10%, wasting 15%, and 75% at the tailings dam. The tailings dam has formed an artificial suspended lake, covering an area of ​​15 square kilometers, and has an area exceeding the campuses of Peking University and Tsinghua University. The wall height is 35 meters and the annual increase is 0.9 meters. Nearly 10 million cubic meters of water and fines are discharged every year. The long-term existence of the tailings dam and its ever-increasing increase brings a huge risk to Baotou. The infiltration at the bottom of the tailings dam will even cause pollutants to flow into the Yellow River. There is an urgent need to stop using the tailings dam, drain the water from the tailings dam, cover it with mud, and restore vegetation. Because the tailings dam contains rare earths, if the tailings dam problem is handled well, it will become a rare earth mine. The ratio of China's rare earth resources to the world's total will be able to rise back to about 33%. The state should grant certain subsidies to Baotou Steel to promote the reuse of tailings dams.

Establish a complete rare earth reserve system. The United States and Japan have already started strategic reserve of rare earths, and sealed and imported rare earth mines of their own resources. The rapid development of China's rare earth industry has not only met the needs of domestic economic and social development, but also made important contributions to the global supply of rare earths. Between 1995 and 2005, 95% of the world's rare earth was supplied by China. In 1959, China's rare earth resources accounted for 46% of the world's total, now only about 20%. The world needs 100,000 tons of rare earth every year, while China's production capacity is 150,000 tons. Supply exceeds demand and lead to a significant drop in rare earth prices. In 2006, the country would limit the production of rare earths to 80,000 tons, and the price of rare earths would rise nearly 3 times in the same year and continue to remain high in 2007. After the financial crisis in 2008, the price of rare earth fell again. The main reason for the price reduction in 2008 was that our country used to export high-purity and high-quality rare earths at a very low price, allowing Japan and South Korea to reserve rare earths for 20 years at low prices. 2006 prices increased in 2007, the financial crisis in 2008, foreign countries can rely on reserves temporarily do not import rare earth.

Promote the integration of rare earth companies. For a long time, due to the interest-driven, there are many rare earth mining companies in China, and there are generally small-scale and redundant constructions. In foreign countries, there is only one rare earth separation plant in France throughout Europe. It is necessary for the country to promote the integration of rare earths. The integration of rare earths should form two rare earth companies in the north and the south, a southern rare earth company in the south, and a northern rare earth company in the north. On this basis, the industry association will coordinate the control of production and prices. The rare earth industry association has been established and has achieved great results. However, the association has a large number of members and it is not easy to coordinate and control and cannot form a joint force. Only by forming large-scale enterprises and achieving scale can we grasp the pricing power of rare earth resources.

To carry out the recycling of rare earth secondary resources. The application of rare earth is more and more extensive, and rare earths are used in household appliances such as energy-saving lamps, computers, and mobile phones. The state should support the development of a recycling economy and establish a comprehensive recycling base for rare earth materials. The rare earth pyrometallurgical molten salt, slag, rare earth permanent magnet waste and used permanent magnet motors, waste nickel-metal hydride batteries, waste rare earth fluorescent lamps, spent rare earth catalysts, and waste The secondary rare earth resources such as rare earth polishing powder and other rare earth-containing waste components are recycled and reused.

Crack down on smuggling of rare earths according to law. Due to various factors such as domestic and international demand, although China Customs has listed rare earths as a key smuggling project, the phenomenon of export smuggling of rare earth products still exists. Some lawbreakers spoof other products and transport rare earths in containers. From 2006 to 2008, the amount of rare earths imported from China by foreign customs statistics was 35%, 59%, and 36% higher than the export volume of China Customs, respectively, and it was 1.2 times higher in 2011.

Pay attention to intellectual property protection. In the 1980s and 1990s, some scientists believed that their scientific research funding came from the country, so scientific research results were also provided to state-owned enterprises at no cost. At that time, the planning was to promote separation technology only at the three state-owned rare earth factories in Baotou Rare Earth No. 3 Plant, Shanghai Yuelong Chemical Plant, and Zhujiang Smeltery. Therefore, the cost of the rare earth industry was very low and the profits were large. Some local and private companies also started. Build a factory. Local enterprises and private enterprises have taken away senior engineers from state-owned enterprises through high salaries and have also taken away related technologies. Even the branch plant established by the French rare earth plant in China has also mastered a part of China's core technology. Fortunately, our technology is still researching and developing, and we must strengthen protection later. China's technology in the separation of rare earths is in the leading position in the world. There is an urgent need to extend the industrial chain, strengthen the research and development of terminal products, make rare earth products, and then export them. Only by strengthening the protection of intellectual property can we promote the enthusiasm of product R&D and form a virtuous circle of industry.

Let China's rare earth resources become economic advantages. It is necessary to solve the above-mentioned problems, promote integration, strictly control the amount of rare earths extracted and produced, reduce the intensity of resource development, delay the depletion of resources, and promote sustainable development.