Zhang Anwen: Global rare earth will form a diversified supply pattern

According to the US Geological Survey, as of the end of 2008, the world's rare earth reserves were 99 million tons (based on rare earth oxides REO), of which 36 million tons were in China, 19 million tons in the CIS countries, and 13 million tons in the United States. Australia was 5.2 million tons, India 1.1 million tons, and other countries totaled 22 million tons.
● Australian rare earth developer Linus said that by 2014, global rare earth demand will increase from 316,100 tons this year to 190,100 tons.
● In 2009, China produced 124,800 tons of rare earths, which supplied more than 95% of global demand (including China). For this reason, China has paid too much for the ecological environment. Relevant sources said that if coupled with environmental costs, the real cost of rare earth products should be at least 5 times the current book cost.
● The United States, Australia, Canada, Russia, India, Southeast Asia and other countries are renewing or increasing the exploitation of rare earth minerals, forming a global diversification pattern of rare earths, which is conducive to the reconstruction of a reasonable rare earth competition.
There has never been a mineral resource, which is attracting attention as it is now. It is rare earth. In October this year, regarding the control and control of rare earths in order to protect the environment and resources in our country, many opinions and misunderstandings have been thrown at the international level. China has made it clear that the world economy is increasingly integrated and peace, cooperation and development are the theme of the world today. Rare earth will not be used as a means to control rare earth resources is China's sovereign rights, but also in line with the relevant provisions of the World Trade Organization, does not violate China's WTO commitments. However, in the interim, rare earth has become a hot topic, and reports on rare earths have been overwhelming. So, what does this seemingly inconspicuous, mineral resource that does not have a beautiful appearance? Global rare earth resources and development, what is the current situation? To this end, the reporter interviewed Zhang Anwen, deputy secretary-general of the Chinese Rare Earth Society.

Rare earth is not only "industrial monosodium glutamate" but also "industrial vitamin"
Whether in paper or on the Internet, we can see the description of rare earths: rare earths are lanthanum, lanthanum, lanthanum, lanthanum, lanthanum, lanthanum, lanthanum, lanthanum, lanthanum, yttrium, lanthanum, yttrium, lanthanum, yttrium The lanthanoid elements and 17 elements whose properties are similar to theirs, such as lanthanum and yttrium, are "future elements" and "industrial monosodium glutamate". In response, Zhang Anwen, deputy secretary-general of the Chinese Society of Rare Earths, told reporters that the "MSG" argument is not enough to explain the important role of rare earths. MSG is not necessary for a dish. Without it, the taste may be a little bit worse. However, rare earth is not optional for modern industry. It is more like a vitamin. It contains 17 elements, just like vitamin A and vitamin B. Vitamin C, vitamin D, vitamin E, vitamin P, leave any one, life can not be maintained. Every element of rare earth is essential for the development of modern industry.
He explained that since the 17 elements of rare earths have a unique atomic structure, they possess very active chemical properties and excellent physical properties such as “optical, electrical, and magnetic”.
Talking about the role of rare earths, Zhang Anwen seems to come to terms. He said: "In our daily lives, rare earth is always around us." The computer we use has a rare-earth element in its disk drive; our color television, its indispensable red color is the occurrence of rare earth yttrium oxide The role of daily use of ceramics, glass, magnetic resonance imaging, high-end camera screens, LED lights in airports and subways are all related to rare earths. Large amounts of rare earths can be found in airplanes, tanks, nuclear weapons, nuclear reactions, and spacecraft. Without the rare earths, the Patriots may not be allowed to fly; without the laser rangefinder with yttrium aluminum garnet, the M1 tanks cannot be found by the first enemy. The unpredictable lights of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo and the 2008 Olympic Games held by the world attracted the attention of the world. They are the silent contributions of rare earth luminescent materials.
With the development of modern science and technology, the application prospect of rare earth will be brighter. With the global warming, all countries are faced with the challenge of energy conservation and emission reduction. Therefore, the development of new energy hybrid vehicles and the development of wind power generation in various countries are all dependent on rare earths. This reporter learned that Australian rare earth developer Linus said that by 2014, the demand for rare earths used in industrial magnets, flat panel TVs and military industry will increase from 136,100 tons this year to 190,100 tons. Linus predicts that the global supply of rare earth will only reach 170,000 tons at the time, which means that the global rare earth will be in short supply. However, whether this prediction meets the reality remains to be verified.
Zhang Anwen told reporters that if the world economy recovers steadily, it is expected that the world's demand for rare earths will reach 210,000 tons in 2015. Compared with 2009 production, the average annual growth rate is 8%, which is much more than 5% of the past 20 years. Average growth rate.
Due to the ever-decreasing rare earth resources, our country has strengthened the management of the rare earths to protect the environment and protect the resources. It has touched the nerves of many countries in the world. Concerns over the supply of rare earths in the future have prompted demand parties to purchase in large quantities, and the rare earth market has become tight. The price of rare earths has attracted rare earth enterprises from various countries to resume production or increase production of rare earths, and more rare earth manufacturers plan to develop newly discovered rare earth ores.

U.S.: Reopening Rare Earths to Meet Supply Challenges In the past year, the United States has heard about reopening rare earth mines. The rare earth mine to be reopened in the United States is the world’s largest rare earth mine—Mount Pass rare earth mine in California. The Mount Pass rare earth mine is owned by Molly Cooper Mining Co., which was once the world's largest rare earth miner and covers an area of ​​22.3 hectares. It is estimated to contain 20 million to 47 million tons of ore, which is the largest known rare earth metal reserve in the world. One of the mines, rare earth ore grade average of 8.5% or more. At the peak of mining 20 years ago, the mine could produce 20,000 tons of rare earth oxides each year, which is almost equivalent to one-third of the United States' total production and world production.
The United States is a country rich in rare earth resources in the world. According to the data from the US Geological Survey, the United States reserves 13 million tons of rare earth oxides (based on rare earth oxides REO), accounting for 12% of the world's total. "It should be more than 13 million tons," said Zhang Anwen. Relying on such rich rare earth resources, in the 1960s and 1970s, rare earths in the United States, in addition to self-sufficiency, also supplied the rest of the world and were the world's largest supplier of rare earth metals.
According to Zhang Anwen, there are other rare earth mines in the United States, such as the Bear Lodge rare earth mine. The mine is located in the central and northern section of Benoy Mountain, northwest of northeastern Wyoming, and is an important gold producing area in the United States. It was once considered a potential area for gold exploration in the early 20th century. In 2003, Rare Elements Resources Ltd. acquired 100% of the mineral rights in the area through its subsidiaries. At present, the delineated rare earth resources delineated in this area are 9.8 million tons, and the average grade of rare earth oxides is 4.1%. Rare earth elements are mainly composed of light rare earth elements, of which five kinds of rare earth element oxides such as antimony, bismuth, antimony, tellurium and antimony account for about 98% of the total rare earth elements.
Zhang Anwen said that the development of rare earths in the United States is very strict and it is also very costly. The collapse of the Internet economy bubble led to a sharp drop in demand for rare earths, rare earth prices fell to the bottom, the development of rare earths without profit, in 2002, the United States stopped mining rare earth mines. Since then, all rare earth supplies in the United States have been purchased from abroad.
With the development of industry and the increase in the use of rare earths, coupled with the development of rare earths in China, there have been many “disruptive” conditions that have caused a lot of damage to the environment. In order to rectify the order of rare earth development, China has carried out a certain amount of export quotas on rare earths. Controlled, China's rare earth exports have gradually decreased. In response to the challenge, the United States also started its own rare earth development.
In March of last year, the US Molly Cooper Mining Company announced the restart of the Mountain Pass rare earth mine and plans to survey the breadth and depth of the distribution of the rare earth deposits in the mine between 2010 and 2011. Mark Smith, the chief executive of Molly Cooper, said that the company plans to reopen the mine in 2012, with an annual capacity of 18,000 tons.
Zhang Anwen told reporters that the Mountain Pass rare earth mine is a very mature rare earth mine, and there is a large rare earth separation processing plant next to it. If the rare earth mine is reopened, it can quickly produce production capacity.
In addition to reopening old mines, there have been new breakthroughs in the development of rare earths in the United States. Earlier this year, U.S. Rare Earths Co., Ltd. discovered large rare-earth minerals containing both light and heavy rare earths in the Diamond River area of ​​Idaho and at the Lemhay Pass of the border between Idaho and Montana. It is estimated that this is the rare earth mine with the largest reserves in North America and the smallest difficulty in mining. This discovery can meet the demand for rare earths in the United States.
Rare earth exploration in Idaho started as early as 15 years ago, but later because the project was not urgent and delayed for a long time, nowadays rare earth is more and more important, and relevant exploration work is also active. “However, exploration and discovery of rare earths, as well as beneficiation, processing and separation and refinement processes, and the complete production of rare earth oxides, will still take some time. It takes about a year or two.” Zhang Anwen said in an interview.
In addition, there are many new discoveries in the United States. Although they are not large, they are gradually starting up. For example, at the end of 2009, Ucore* confirmed the discovery of new rare earth resources on Sunday Lake in the United States, 95% of which were heavy rare earths, and total rare earth oxides were 1.8%.
At the same time, rare earths were found in Dome Hill, Texas, and the proportion of heavy to light rare earth elements was 67%. In order to show the importance of rare earth mining, they even called the company's name from Standard Sliver Corporation. Change to Texas Rare Earth Resource corp.
In addition to actively developing rare earth resources, the United States attaches great importance to rare earth resources strategy. From Congressman to President, from the US Department of Energy to the Pentagon are all active. As early as September of this year, the U.S. Department of Energy stated that it will formulate strategies to increase rare earth production, find alternative materials, and increase the efficiency of rare earth use.
"If we do not take action to ensure that we have sufficient supplies, then our country will certainly be in danger in terms of security and economic security," said Representative Kathy De Campel at a meeting this year. She has formulated a plan to make the United States self-sufficient in self-sufficiency within five years.
“Diversified global supply chains are important for any key material, including rare earths,” said David Sandro, Assistant Secretary of the US Department of Energy. A US National Audit Office report in April said that rebuilding the US rare earth supply chain may take up to 15 years. The United States is working hard to formulate a new rare earth strategy.

Japan: The expansion of rare earth resources under high-tech Japan began its economic rise in the late 1950s. According to Zhang Anwen, Japan is the first country in the world to have patented rare earth neodymium iron boron technology. As early as 1983, Sagawa of Japan’s Sumitomo Corporation (now Newcomx) applied for rare earth NdFeB patented technology. Later, at the same year in the United States held in the magnetic and magnet materials conference, Sagawa real people published a paper on NdFeB magnets, caused a worldwide sensation. The following year, Japan's NdFeB sintered magnets began commercial production.
Japan's application for a patent for neodymium iron boron is a major event in the world's rare earth industry, which affects the entire pattern of the NdFeB industry. "Japan relies on their patented technology to quickly occupy the international market of rare earth." According to Zhang Anwen, because Japan applied for a patent, other countries need to purchase their patents to export and sell NdFeB. If they do not purchase their patents, they will be restricted in terms of exports. According to him, there are five rare earth companies in China that have purchased this patent.
Japan, which has rare earth high-tech, not only has a high level of industrialization of rare earths, but also exerts its best efforts in the development and application of rare earths. Japan's many high-tech products and high-tech materials, including 3C products, that is, communications products, computer products, consumer electronics products are exported to a large number, and also provide a broad arena for the application of rare earth. Zhang Anwen, for example, said that the lanthanum in the rare earth is a raw material for the Toyota Prius hybrid electric vehicle nickel-metal hydride battery, which had a share of 51% in the US hybrid vehicle market last year. This car occupied the international market, in addition to its own technical advantages, but also can not do without the contribution of rare earth. US independent consultant Jack Lifton said: "Toyota and Honda are in an excellent position in the rare earth supply chain so that other auto makers can take advantage of it."
The development of Japan in science and technology has led to a large amount of rare earths. Each year Japan consumes about 30,000 to 40,000 tons of rare earths.
However, Japan does not have much of its rare earth resources. Japan's rare earth 95% to 97% rely on imports, which are mainly imported from China. Most of China’s rare earth exports are to Japan. Zhang Anwen introduced that in 2009, China’s exports of rare earths to Japan included smelter separations and rare earth oxides, which accounted for 31% of the country’s total exports. In 2010, China's exports of rare earths to Japan accounted for 50% of total exports.
The scarcity of Japan’s resources has also given birth to Japan’s complete resource reserve strategy. As early as 1983, Japan introduced a strategic reserve system for rare minerals that provides a certain amount of rare metals such as vanadium, manganese, cobalt, nickel, molybdenum, and tungsten. Under normal circumstances, Japan’s rare metal reserves must be sufficient for about three months in the country. Demand. However, experts estimate that the rare earth consumer companies in Japan and other countries will have at least 3 to 5 years of reserves.
In July 2009, the Strategy for Ensuring Stable Supplies of Rare Metals, released by Japan's Ministry of Economy and Industry (METI), put forward a strategy of source diversification. However, stuck with resistance in the domestic parliament, the strategy has not received financial support.
In order to meet the demand for rare earth resources, Japan has begun a global diversification of the expansion of the road. According to the report of the "Nihon Keizai Shimbun", in order to ensure the stable supply of irreplaceable rare earth resources for the production of environmentally friendly automobiles, in September this year, Sumitomo Corporation participated in a commercial activity to extract rare earths from the mine. Japanese companies are trying to establish an independent supply chain model for rare earths, which is much more expensive than buying from China. One of the reasons is that modern high-tech industries in Japan are indispensable to rare earths. The second reason is that rare earth products account for high-tech products in their terminals. The cost is minimal.
Toyota Tsusho, a Japanese company, claims that it will invest 40 billion yen in the development of rare earth mines in the next five years. At present, Toyota Tsusho is engaged in research and development of rare earth mines in Mongolia and Vietnam in addition to the activities of refining rare earth resources from tin mines in Indonesia. In addition, Marubeni Tieyuan Company, a subsidiary of Marubeni Corporation engaged in iron slag business, is participating in the recycling of rare earth resources.
In October this year, Japan played a "chain of palm," and reached an agreement with Mongolia on October 2 and India, October 31 and Vietnam on October 31 respectively. In addition, they also have "combination punches" to protect rare earth supplies. On October 26 this year, the Japanese National Assembly passed an additional budget of 336.9 billion yen, plus the original 100 billion yen, dedicated to developing rare earth resources in cooperation with third countries, and supporting the development of domestic rare earth metal recycling technology.

Australia: Rare earth development capacity will be formed in the near future. Australia is also rich in rare earth resources. According to Zhang Anwen, Australia's Lynas Corporation is one of the world's major rare earth companies. The company has multiple rare earth deposits. In 2000, Lynas Corporation of Australia acquired Mount Weld’s rare earth mineral rights. The Werdeshan rare earth deposit is located 35 km south of the town of Laferton in Western Australia, Australia. The rare earth minerals are predominantly imaginary monazite, accompanied by rare metals such as thorium and thorium. Linus conducted complementary exploration, resource evaluation, and ore sorting and smelting trials on rare earths and rare metals in the Verdun Mountains from 2002 to 2008. According to the data released by Lenas Corporation's website, with 4% REO as the boundary grade, the Weideshan Central Rare Earths District delineated 6.2 million tons of proven+control-level resources, and inferred class resources amounted to 1.5 million tons. The average grade is 11.9%, equivalent to 920,000 tons of rare earth metals.
In 2008, Linas commissioned Australian mine design and development company to carry out open-pit mining design and optimization for the Weirdshan central rare earth area. In June 2008, the first phase of mining activities was carried out, and a total of 770,000 tons of ore was recovered. The average grade is 15.4% rare earth oxides.
According to Zhang Anwen, Linas Corporation has established a rare earth separation and smelting plant in Malaysia. The separated smelting plant in Kuantan City, Malaysia, has an annual design capacity of 10,500 tons of rare earth oxides, and was expanded to 21,000 tons in the second phase. Zhang Anwen said that due to the financial crisis, this separation smelter also experienced a series of twists and turns, once shelved, and has now restarted, plans to start work in 2011, will be shipped to Malaysia's rare earth mines in Mount Verde for smelting. However, according to his estimation, from mineral concentrates, after roasting, smelting, refining 100% rare earth oxides, about two or three years will be effective. Therefore, he believes that Linus is a company that may form a large capacity for rare earth production in the near future.
Zhang Anwen said that another important rare earth company in Australia is Arafura Resource Ltd. The company owns the Nolans rare earth deposit. The deposit is located 130km north of Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia and contains not only rare earth minerals but also phosphorus and *. According to the data disclosed by the company in 2008, the deposit has 503 million tons of proven+control+ inferred tertiary resources with an average REO grade of 2.8%, equivalent to 888,000 tons of rare earth metals.
At present, Arafura Resources Co., Ltd. has commissioned relevant consulting companies to carry out feasibility studies for project banks and plans to start project construction in 2011 and start production in 2012. Due to the financial crisis, the project ** has encountered difficulties. On June 1, 2009, Jiangsu Huadong Non-ferrous Metals Investment Holding Company, a subsidiary of China East China Nonferrous Metal Geological Exploration Bureau, successfully acquired 25% of Arafora Resources Co., Ltd. for A$22.94 million.

Canada and Other Countries: Actively Developing Rare Earth Resources According to Zhang Anwen, other countries in the world also have many rare earth resources. For example, in Canada, there are mainly Thor Lake rare earth deposits and Hoidas Lake rare earth deposits.
The Thor Lake rare earth mine is located in the McKinsey mine in the Northwest Territory of Canada, 5 kilometers east of Lake Das Reu, and 100 kilometers from the city of Yellowknife, the capital of the Northwest Territories state. In 1976, Highwood Resources Ltd. discovered a large-scale mineralization of rare metals and rare earths during the exploration of the mines in the area, followed by intermittent exploration by some mining companies. In 2005, Avalon Rare Elements Inc. obtained 100% interest in the Nursery Lake Rare Earth Project. At present, six rare-rare-earth metal ore deposits have been delineated in the Thor Lake rare earth project to enrich rare earths, antimony, scandium, and zirconium. Among them, there are two high-exploration mining areas: the Lake area and the T area. An estimation report was released in March 2009. Lake District has 65.21 million tons of controlled+inferred resources, and the average grade of rare earth oxides is 2.05%, equivalent to 1.33 million tons of rare earth metals, of which heavy rare earth oxide accounts for 15% of all rare earth oxides. about. Avalon expects to complete the pre-feasibility study from 2009 to 2010.
The Hoyo-Dars rare earth deposit is located 50 kilometers north of the city of Saskatchewan in Canada. At present, Great Western Minerals Group Ltd. owns 100% of the area. The project has obtained a proven resource of 1.15 million tons of control grade resources, with an average grade of 2.36% REO, and an inferred grade resource of 370,000 tons. The project design and construction started from 2010 to 2011 and will be put into production in 2012.
In addition, Zhang Anwen said that European rare earth production has a long history of more than 80 years. Among them, France is the most prominent. Although France does not have a rare earth resource, it has the world's largest rare earth separation processing company - Rhodia rare earth Co., Ltd., its predecessor is the French Ministry of Chemical Industry, Rhone Planck (group) company has more than 100 years of history of rare earth and * Division. At present, Rhodia has established many joint venture companies in China. Russia is also developing rare earth resources and Kyrgyzstan has rare earth mining companies, but their reserves are still unknown to outsiders. Zhang Anwen also said that from a global perspective, India, Brazil, and Africa also have more rare earth resources, and Southeast Asia's Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia, and other countries also produce a small amount of waterfront sand stone. Brazil is the oldest country in the world for the production of rare earths. In 1884, it began exporting monazite to Germany, once known to the world. The Pittinga rare earth mine in Brazil has huge deposits. Stingkam Piscarti, a rare earth company in South Africa, is also well-known.

Global rare earth multi-channel supply, reducing China's export pressure For China's rare earth, the reporter also learned that in recent decades, China has paid too much for the supply of global rare earth demand, including ecological environment, geological environment, and a lot of resources. Wasted costs. Baotou Bayan Obo rare earth ore is China's largest rare earth ore, and once it was developed, it was heavily polluted by the surrounding environment and is actively being treated. At the same time, with the continuous improvement and improvement of rare earth technologies, the situation has improved. The situation is more serious, there are many rare earth development areas in southern China. Due to the low content of rare earth minerals, the amount of earth and rock extracted during the extraction of rare earths is particularly large. Each ton of rare earth oxides produces up to 2,000 to 3,000 tons of tailings, causing serious soil erosion and ecological environmental damage.
Although the current price of rare earths is as high as tens of thousands of yuan per ton, hundreds of thousands of yuan, and even millions of yuan, it is far below the cost of environmental restoration. There have been related sources that if you add environmental costs, the real cost of rare earth products should be at least 5 times the current book cost.
It is precisely this kind of companies that do not care about environmental costs and can drastically lower prices and undermine the competitive order of China's rare earth market. Some experts believe that China's supply of rare earths throughout the world is actually using China's environmental destruction to support the use of rare earths in other countries.
According to the introduction of Secretary-General Zhang Anwen, according to the public information of the US Geological Survey, by the end of 2008, the world's rare earth reserves were 99 million tons (based on rare earth oxides REO), of which 36 million tons were from China and 19 million tons from the CIS countries. The United States has 13 million tons, Australia 5.2 million tons, India 1.1 million tons, and other countries totaling 22 million tons. In terms of proportion, China accounts for 36% of the world, Russia accounts for 19%, the United States accounts for 13%, Australia accounts for 5%, and India accounts for 3%.
In 2009, China produced 12.48 million tons of rare earths, which supplied more than 95% of global demand (including China). In addition to China, last year Russia produced 2,470 tons of rare earths, 1,700 tons in the United States, and 50 tons in India. Japan's rare earth imports are about 30,000 tons, but the output is zero. China is not the only country in the world that has rare earths, but has assumed the role of supplying most of the world’s rare earths. And due to lack of control, a substantial portion of China's rare earths are sold at low prices to the United States, Japan, and European countries. However, this model of development is not sustainable in the long run.
It should be said that the supply of rare earths and rare earths are all responsible. “The global supply of rare earths is an unusual pattern in China. Our export pressure is high. Our environmental protection pressures and the pressure for energy conservation and emission reduction are all very high,” the experts said.
In this situation, the United States, Australia, Canada, Russia, India, and Southeast Asia are renewing or increasing the mining of rare earth minerals. Both Linus of Australia and Moliba Co. of the United States have stated that they will increase production in the future, so that the total output of the two countries and other regions will reach 35% of China's output. When talking about this situation, relevant experts made it clear that this is a good thing for China and a good thing for the world.
At present, due to the continuous discovery of new rare earth resources in foreign countries and the large number of developments over the years, the proportion of rare earth resources in China has dropped significantly, and the industrialization process has not yet been completed. In addition, the demand for the development of high-tech industries requires the consumption of large amounts of rare earth resources in the future. Under such circumstances, if the world is to develop rare earth resources and form a global diversified supply pattern of rare earths, this will be beneficial to China and beneficial to the world at the same time, which will be conducive to the formation of reasonable rare earth prices, and will also help form a global Reasonable rare earth competition pattern. The establishment of a multi-channel supply of rare earth products worldwide as soon as possible is more conducive to the healthy development of related high-tech industries.