What Makes US Worry in Sino-US Trade War? - Rare Earth - 1/2

Of rare earth resources, China has an absolute advantage, will this be a breakthrough for China to the United States in the Sino-US trade war from the frontline investigation? So, what is rare earth and how important are rare earths? Why it is hard for the United States to catch up with us.

Rare earth elements have excellent physical properties such as optoelectronics and electromagnetism. When slightly rare earth elements are added to other materials, they can greatly improve the quality and performance of products and play the role of " Midas touch ", which is also known as the "vitamin" of modern industry. Rare earth elements are widely used in metallurgy, petrochemical, optical, laser, hydrogen storage, display panel, magnetic materials and other modern industrial fields.

China has absolute advantages on rare earth resources. There is a saying says: "There is oil in the Middle East and rare earth in China." China occupy rare earth and tungsten resource in the first place in the world. According to Merchants Securities Research Report, in 2018, the global output of rare earth minerals was about 195,000 tons, and that of China was about 120,000 tons, accounting for 62% globally.

However, there are rare earths in many parts of the world. How can China's rare earth industry in the lead position?

America was once the world's largest producer of rare earths and a major exporter of rare earths, but it has stopped mining for many years. Not only the United States, but also other countries are in a similar situation. On the one hand, the developed countries are unwilling to take responsibility for the environmental damage caused by rare earth mining; On the other hand, the non-exploitation of rare earth abroad is the result of cost competition. The light rare earth in northern China is concentrated in Baotou, it is the treatment of tailings and slag from iron ore mining, the cost is much lower than that in other parts of the world.

Rare earth mined abroad have to send to China for extraction and separation. In addition to rare earth ores, more importantly, China has independently developed and mastered the core technology of a key link in the rare earth industry.

rare earth elements image

The New York Times reported that "it is very difficult for the United States to catch up with the rare earth issue" and "China has completely dominated one of the most critical processes in rare earth processing, that is, converting rare earth oxides into metals with low cost and high production capacity, so that enterprises elsewhere do not want to invest in their own processing plants"

Academician Xu Guangxian, the father of rare earth in China, has overcome the world difficult problem of rare earth extraction with his cascade extraction technology and won the highest national science and technology award.

Before Xu Guangxian invented this technology, although China's rare earth reserves ranked first in the world, it could only export rare earth ores and mixed rare earth to foreign countries, and importing rare earth products. With his extraction technology, China has jumped from a large country of rare earth resources to the largest country of rare earth industry. Some foreign rare earth producers who had monopolized the international rare earth market for a long time had to reduce, change or even stop their production.

According to the report of the United States Geological Survey in February this year, between 2014 and 2017, 80% of the imports of rare earth compounds and metals came from China, 6% from Estonia, 3% from Japan and 3% from France, and compounds and metal products from Estonia, France and Japan even China.

Because China's rare earth mining and smelting separation technology is far ahead other countries, Meng Qingjiang said, "Foreign mining of rare earth can only be sent to China."

Zhang Anwen, deputy secretary-general of China Rare Earth Society, said in an interview with China Economic Weekly: China has accumulated considerable advantages in the mining and refining of rare earths. A large number of rare earth raw materials can be processed in domestic and then export abroad with higher added value. It is important in the long-term development in this Sino-US trade war.

What Makes US Worry in Sino-US Trade War? - Rare Earth - 2/2

 

 

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