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China Has Only 23% of World's REE Reserves

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"China has seen its rare earth reserves decline in major mining areas, with the reserve-extraction ratio slumping."

Rare Metal Blog, Tracy Weslosky

A whitepaper released June 20, 2012 by the Information Office of the State Council of The People's Republic of China is titled, Situation and Policies of China's Rare Earth Industry. The 32-page document is a first for China on the topic of rare earth elements and it addresses better coordination of rare earth utilization with environmental protection; promoting technological advancement and industrial upgrading; and promoting fair trade and international cooperation. We received another timely piece from Hongpo, our Shanghai correspondent, who gives us his analysis of the whitepaper…

Hongpo* writes: China, on Wednesday, June 21, 2012, issued a whitepaper on its rare earth industry, the first of its kind in the country, as the world's largest rare earth producer strives to better protect the valuable resources. The whitepaper, titled, Situation and Policies of China's Rare Earth Industry, was released by the Information Office of the State Council, or China's cabinet. It states that the country aims to build a regulated and orderly system of rare earth production and market circulation "within a short period of time." Meanwhile, the price of rare earths was also defended and China urged other countries not to politicize the issue, saying that rare earth prices were underrated in China.

The whitepaper said that China's rare earth reserves account for about 23% of the world's total rare earth reserves, but the country has been supplying more than 90% of the world's demand. China has seen its rare earth reserves decline in major mining areas, with the reserve-extraction ratio of ion-absorption rare earth mines in southern provinces slumping to 15 from 50 two decades ago, in North China's city of Baotou and only one-third of the original volume of rare earth resources is still available in the main mining areas. . .View Full Article


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