News on China's scientific and technological development.

Zoom's post on China's rare earth metals discovery

Zoom, that is an enlightening article on China's vast resources in rare earth metals and their importance. Sometimes, I miss important articles like yours. Unbeknownst to you, I am on multiple forums where there are many additional people that enjoy the latest developments in China's science and technology.

I will take the article that you posted and add a couple of illustrations; post them on other forums to spread the information; and credit you with the find.


Rare wealth


Rare earth metal elements



"Large rare earths deposit found in central China
English.news.cn 2010-10-07 14:23:53

WUHAN, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- Geologists have discovered a large reserve of rare earths, which are vital for production of many high-tech products ranging from iPods to hybrid cars, in central China's Hubei Province, local authorities confirmed Thursday.

The newly-found deposit sits at the foot of Mt. Laoyin in Longba Township of Zhuxi County, in Shiyan City, a spokesman with the Hubei Provincial Land and Resources Department said.

"Geologists are investigating the make-up, structure, quality, size of the reserve," the spokesman said.

Before the discovery, geologists had also found deposits of rare earths in 12 places in Zhushan, another county in Shiyan, he said.

Local authorities have yet to tap the rich geological resources.

"We are drawing up plans and measures to prevent the rare earths resources from being illegally mined," the spokesman added.

Rare earths, a class of 17 chemical elements that include minerals such as dysprosium, terbium, thulium, lutetium and yttrium, are widely used in the fields of the most sophisticated science and technologies like electronics, aviation, atomic energy, and mechanical manufacturing.

The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in north China has the largest reserves of rare earths in the country, or about 75 percent.

China is the world's largest rare earth producer; supplying more than 90 percent of the global demand.

China has stressed the sustainable development of rare earths mining.

"What we pursue is to satisfy not only the domestic demand but also the global demand of rare earths. We should not only stand from the present, but should also look forward to the future," Premier Wen Jiabao said Wednesday at the sixth China-EU Business Summit in Brussels.

Wen also reaffirmed that proper control and regulations were important and that China would not close the market.

"If the rare earths minerals were used up, how would the world and China deal with the problem?" he said.

Editor: Tang Danlu"

[Note: Thank you to "zoom" for the post.]

Is it smart to produce so many rare earth metals while other countries have stopped? What happens when China runs out, while the US, Canada, and other countries start tapping their rare earth mines?

ccL1 said:

Is it smart to produce so many rare earth metals while other countries have stopped? What happens when China runs out, while the US, Canada, and other countries start tapping their rare earth mines?

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China has warned other countries to start producing their own but it could take 15years (USA prediction) to get mines up and running.It causes serious environmental damage and China will have to scale down very soon.There are much REM's around the world despite the name.I think it was not economically viable for companies until now.

Cheers Martian but no need to credit me.

zoom said:

China has warned other countries to start producing their own, but it could take 15 years (USA prediction) to get mines up and running. It causes serious environmental damage and China will have to scale down very soon. There are much REM's around the world despite the name. I think it was not economically viable for companies until now.

Cheers Martian but no need to credit me.

Click to expand...

Too late zoom. You've already been credited. What is the implication?

Interestingly enough, without my asking, my Indian friends "sticky-ed" my thread on "China's Advanced Sciences." Currently, the "China's Advanced Sciences" is the sole "sticky-ed" thread in the Chinese sub-forum. Ironic, isn't it?

Anyway, I'm on good terms with everybody. I am merely a fellow armchair general and science enthusiast. The scientific and technological advancements by China are being shared with fellow scientists worldwide through the Nature scientific journal publications. Everyone benefits from China's discoveries.

In conclusion, for years to come, people will be reading the rare earth article on China and appreciate that you (i.e. "zoom") found it.

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Incidentally, if anyone is wondering why I am posting voluminously on China's scientific and technological advances, it is because the NPG Asia Materials top ten highlights are available for only one month. Once the one month lapses, all of the articles are no longer available for free. I wanted to post them before the articles are archived and available for subscribers only.

Similarly, only a fraction of the articles for Nature China are "Open!" I have no idea when Nature China may decide to change the status of the currently "Opened" articles. I am merely posting a fraction of the currently Opened articles that I find interesting.

re: Martian post #414...Keep up the good work, your
posts are enlightening, informative as well as interesting.

ba12 said:

re: Martian post #414...Keep up the good work, your
posts are enlightening, informative as well as interesting.

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Thank you everyone for your overwhelming support. I am gratified to know that you are as interested in China's scientific and technological development as I am.

Cheers to all of you!

zoom said:

China has warned other countries to start producing their own but it could take 15years (USA prediction) to get mines up and running.It causes serious environmental damage and China will have to scale down very soon.There are much REM's around the world despite the name.I think it was not economically viable for companies until now.

Cheers Martian but no need to credit me.

Click to expand...

Then why not reprocess the stuff from discarded end products, eg cellphones teles, batteries. There must be enough built up over the decades to make up for any restrictions on Chinas part?

I don't know what the big deal with giving people an education. Unless one is from a rival country that is lagging behind China, I don't know how one can feel like its throwing it in people's faces. So many do it to China even ones that are falling behind. What's to complain about when many are going to automatically assume some Western country developed or discover it anyways? I can see Martian visits a website where I visit often too. There in one of the threads it was mentioned that a Chinese man was one of the founders of the US Jet Propulsion Laboratory. A poster that was notoriously anti-China responded in disbelief. The guy could've simply did an internet search but he chose to be a fool first believing it was a lie. And he didn't come from a position of complete ignorance. He knew the history and named names but apparently he did not know that Tsien Hsue-shen was a part of that history. So he stuck his foot in his mouth before checking and then afterwards he tried spinning it of course to deflect how ignorant he was. If anything it's an education and there's nothing wrong with it especially if it's the truth.

Beware of the future where we are going to see a reverse form of affirmative action where there will be people that expect everyone else to help maintain their own belief in their superiority. Absurd? Notice how many are pointing to China moving up the ladder displacing countries like Japan as the 2nd largest economy in world is making Japan rethink it's military policy as if it's China's fault. Or how about how because the West is suffering a setback due to the Great Recession while China keeps on humming, it has actually been referred as Chinese exploitation at their expense. Or how about the rare earth metals situation? If Chinese people risk their health to refine these metals and they don't, the rest of the world can't demand it from China whenever they wish. Has China gone to war with anyone to knocked-off the competition or seized control of another country's wealth which is the reason for China's rise? No, yet they complain as if China is obligated and has a duty to be less and hold back. Do you think they would ever hold back so people can catch-up or do it because they don't want to hurt people's self-esteem? The irony that the people who think they're superior to China expecting China to hold back so they can continue to feel superior at China's expense.

Can Japan recycle its way to rare metals independence? Let's do the math.

bladerunner said:

Then why not reprocess the stuff from discarded end products, eg cellphones teles, batteries. There must be enough built up over the decades to make up for any restrictions on Chinas part?

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Beyond the current 9 annual tons, I wish the Japanese the best of luck in recycling another 25,991 tons of rare metals per year.

The Japanese Dowa rare metal recycling plant processes 300 tons of materials and smelts them in a 1,400 degrees Celsius furnace to yield a paltry "150 grams of rare metals" a day per ton of material. This amounts to a total recovery of 45 Kg per day.

It requires ten days of operation to produce 450 Kg of rare metals. In one month, the Dowa recycling plant produces 1,350 Kg of rare metals. In an entire year, the Dowa plant will produce 16,200 Kg or 8 metric tons of rare metals.

The current worldwide consumption is 130,000 tons of rare metals per year. China will produce 120,000 tons of rare metals this year. China exports approximately 1/3 of its rare metals production, which is 40,000 tons. Japan consumes 65% of China's rare earth metal exports. In other words, Japan imports 26,000 tons of rare metals per year from China.

The Dowa plant produces 8 metric tons or almost 9 short tons of recycled rare metals a year. The Japanese shortfall, after recycling, is 25,991 tons of rare metals that they still need to import from China.




"Mineweb - Dorothy Kosich - 2 days ago
Japan's manufacturers account for 65% of China's rare earth exports. Metals analyst Christopher Ecclestone of Hallgarten & Company suggested the real ..."



"Technically difficult process

But this form of recycling is an expensive and technically difficult process that is still being perfected.

At Dowa's plant, computer chips and other vital parts from electronics are hacked into two-centimetre squares. This feedstock then must be smelted in a furnace that reaches 1,400°Celsius before various minerals can be extracted. The factory processes 300 tons of materials a day, and each ton yields only about 150 grams of rare metals.

Finding enough electronics parts to recycle has also grown more difficult for Dowa, which procures used gadgets from around the world.

A growing number of countries, including the United States, are recognising the value of holding onto old electronics."



"Reason #2: Global Supply Controlled by China. Until 1948, most of the world’s rare earth metals were sourced from placer sand deposits in India and Brazil when South Africa became the largest producer. India and South African still produce rare earth metals today, but China has zoomed past everybody since the 1980′s.

This number is almost hard to believe, but it is absolutely true: China produces and controls 95% of the world’s production of rare earth minerals. Yup, 95%!

The problem is that China currently uses about two-thirds of what it produces, but is on a consumption trajectory where it will use everything it produces in a few more years. When that happens, the U.S. and the rest of the world will be S.O.L.!

In September of last year, China announced plans to lower its export quota of rare earth metals to 35,000 tons per year in 2010-2015.

Wait, it gets worse. China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is considering a total ban on exports of terbium, dysprosium, yttrium, thulium, and lutetium.

It’s part of a plan that Deng Xiaoping started almost two decades ago when he said that rare earth metals would 'Do for China what oil did for Saudi Arabia.'”

zoom said:

China has warned other countries to start producing their own but it could take 15years (USA prediction) to get mines up and running.It causes serious environmental damage and China will have to scale down very soon.There are much REM's around the world despite the name.I think it was not economically viable for companies until now.

Cheers Martian but no need to credit me.

Click to expand...

China warned them? Or advised them? I am interested in that statement. Do you have an article for this? Thanks.

Aren't there a great deal of the same resources in Mongolia and Afghanistan but they just haven't been developed yet?

Congrats on the Nobel prize!:nana: