As an important strategic resource, rare earths are widely used in modern industry, especially in high-tech fields. my country is a big country in rare earth resources, owning 65% of the world's rare earth resources, accounting for more than 90% of the global rare earth trade volume. The unique advantages naturally remind us that in the world rare earth trade, my country will have more price voice because of its resource advantages. But this is not the case. my country's rare earth industry, which accounts for more than 90% of the global rare earth metal trade, does not have the world pricing power like Australia and Brazil's iron mining industry. In the international commodity market, there is a strange phenomenon: take oil, coal, and iron ore as examples, when China is in the export stage, the price is extremely low; once it turns to the import stage, the price soars dozens of times.

Internationally, in order to curb my country's development, the United States and other western countries regard the consumption of rare earths as an important means to continuously weaken my country's strategic advantages. In China, the understanding of the role and value of rare earths is insufficient, and the development order is chaotic and the industrial concentration is low. Nowadays, under the factors of increasingly scarce resources and increasingly bad international trade environment, it is an urgent strategic task to rebuild the strategic reserve of rare earth and enhance the right to speak.

The content of rare earths in the crust is high, but the abundance is low and the distribution is uneven. The light rare earth minerals currently available for mining with industrial value are mainly bastnasite, monazite, and cerium niobium perovskite; heavy rare earth minerals are mainly Xenotime, brown yttrium niobium, ion adsorption rare earth ore, titanium uranium ore, etc. The world's rare earth resources are mainly concentrated in China, the United States, Australia, India, Canada, South Africa, Brazil, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Egypt and other countries. As of 2007, my country's rare earth reserves were 27 million tons, accounting for 30.68% of the world's rare earth reserves; the reserve base was 89 million tons, accounting for more than 59% of the world's reserves, of which yttrium reserves were 540,000 tons, accounting for 40% of the world's yttrium reserves. my country's rare earth mines are mainly distributed in Inner Mongolia, Sichuan, Shandong and Jiangnan provinces, among which the Bayan Obo mine accounts for more than 80% of my country's rare earth reserves.

Under the long-term disorderly development of the domestic rare earth industry and vicious price competition, more than 95% of the world's rare earth metals have been produced and supplied by my country in recent years. The United States, which is rich in rare earth resources, has closed its rare earth mines, while Japan, which is scarce in resources, has aggressively purchased Chinese rare earths and buried them in the sea for future use. In fact, my country's rare earth reserves are now less than 30% of the world's. If we do not carry out effective management and governance, once we become a net importer of rare earths in the future, we will not only spend dozens of times, or even hundreds of times of money, it is very likely that will be strategically constrained by Western countries.

my country's rare earth industry loses its right to speak

Overexploitation of rare earth resources

In recent years, with the increase in the consumption of metal resources and the rise in prices, the export of rare earths in my country has shown an upward trend, which has made the phenomenon of sharp reduction of rare earth reserves in my country increasingly prominent. According to data released abroad, my country's tungsten reserves are 91 million tons, accounting for about 65% of the world's total reserves; the proven rare earth resources reserves are 43 million tons, accounting for 43% of the world's total reserves. Over the years, more than 80% of the world's tungsten and 90% of rare earth have been supplied by China. Due to over-exploitation, the advantages of rare metal resources such as rare earths in my country are gradually disappearing. According to statistics, my country's rare earth resources accounted for 74% of the world's total in the 1970s, dropped to 69% in the 1980s, and dropped sharply to about 43% in the late 1990s; The ratio of the basic reserves of tungsten, tin and antimony to the actual mining volume, that is, the static guarantee level is 14 years, 12 years and 6 years respectively, and the resource advantage no longer exists. According to the statistics of the US Department of Mines in 1998, China's rare earth resources account for about 80% of the world's rare earth resources, and it has an absolute resource advantage. However, by 2005, statistics from the US Department of Mines showed that the world has explored 154 million tons of rare earth reserves (REO) available for mining, of which 89 million tons (REO) are in China, accounting for 58% of global reserves.

For a long time, my country's rare metals have an absolute share in the international market, but they do not have the ability to regulate supply, demand and prices in the international market, and most of the resources are sold at low prices. In contrast, developed countries such as Europe, the United States, and Japan have long-term strategic reserves for these rare resources. The non-renewability of rare metals and their importance in the defense industry and cutting-edge technology determine their important position in the national strategy. Western countries such as the United States and Japan attach great importance to the reserves of rare metal resources. First, seal up mines and cherish domestic resources. The United States has the second largest rare earth reserves in the world, but its largest rare earth mine, the Mountain Pass mine, has been sealed and imported in large quantities from abroad. Second, implement strategic reserves for rare metals. When the price is suitable, foreign resources should be used as much as possible. Once the international market supply is tight and the price of rare metals may increase, they will throw reserves to suppress the market price, making the price of rare metals exported by my country remain low for a long time. Third, control other countries' strategic resources through economic aid and investment. For a long time, developed countries such as the United States and Japan have been working hard to implement a global resource strategy, encouraging their own companies to explore and develop mineral resources overseas. At present, most of the world's mineral resources have been controlled by several companies in developed countries. As an island country with poor mineral resources, Japan's global strategy for mineral resources is to implement "overseas investment to establish a country".