China is set to further safeguard its reserves of rare earth elements by about 5 million tonnes amid increasing international competition, especially with the United States, following a discovery in the southwestern Sichuan province.
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Rare earth specialists told a symposium held last week by China Rare Earth Group that 4.96 million tonnes of rare earths – which are crucial to tech development, ranging from electric vehicles to wind turbines, robots and military weapons – had been found in the Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture, which is one of the poorest regions in China.
China is the world’s top producer of rare earth elements, that includes 17 metal oxides, with 44 million tonnes of deposits, according to the US Geological Survey.
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“In the face of the new situation of international competition … the group will keep the nation’s greater interests in mind, to make new, significant contributions to safeguarding China’s rare earth resource security,” the state-owned China Rare Earth Group said in a statement on its official website on Saturday.
China’s rare earths dominance has increasingly raised geopolitical concerns amid the escalating tech rivalry between China and the US.
China’s rare earth industry must also expand into downstream sectors, improve resource utilisation efficiency, and enhance the technological edge of enterprises