[SMM rare Earth] China rare Earth panorama: reserves account for 36.67 per cent of the world's distribution "light in the north and heavy in the south"

According to the latest rare earth report of the US Geological Survey in 2018, global rare earth REO reserves in 2017 are about 120 million tons, while China's reserves are 44 million tons, accounting for 36.67 percent of the world's total reserves. According to the distribution structure of rare earth reserves in the world, China's rare earth reserves rank first in the world.

On the whole, the distribution of rare earth resources has formed the distribution pattern of north, south, east and west, and has the distribution characteristics of "light in the north and light in the south". The north is mostly light rare earth resources, such as cerium fluorocarbon ore, mainly distributed in Baiyun Obo mining area in Baotou, Inner Mongolia, its rare earth reserves account for more than 83% of the total rare earth reserves in China, ranking first in the world, is the main production base of light rare earth in China. The south is mostly medium and heavy rare earth resources, such as ionic rare earth ore, mainly distributed in Ganzhou, Jiangxi, Fujian Longyan and other areas. According to the relevant data, especially in Nanling area, the distribution of objective ion adsorption of rare earth, heavy rare earth ore, easy mining, easy extraction, has become an important medium and heavy rare earth production base in China.

Baiyun Obo rare Earth Mine:

Baiyun Obo ore is the largest rare earth deposit in China. it is a comprehensive deposit of rare earth symbiosis with iron, niobium, thorium and other elements. rare earth ore is mainly distributed in the main, eastern and western iron orebodies of the mine. Among the rare earth dolomites in the eastern contact zone and the lower wall of the main and eastern orebodies, the rare earth mineralization in the main and eastern ores is strong, the rare earth content in fluorite dolomite is the highest, followed by iron mineralized dolomite, and the rare earth content tends to increase to the deep. Compared with other countries, the ore has about 720 million tons of mixed ore, the average grade of rare earth oxide (REO) is 5% (based on the calculation of rare earth reserves REO about 36 million tons), the mine belongs to Baotou Iron and Steel Group; Baotou Iron and Steel Group Baotou Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. has a rare earth smelting capacity of 100000 tons / year.

Although from the point of view of productivity reserves, Baiyun Obo ore is undoubtedly the largest rare earth ore in the world. Light rare earth resources have obvious advantages, mature mining and smelting technology, complete industrial chain, and can beat almost any other light rare earth mines in terms of utilization cost, but the average taste of REO is not high.

In addition to Baiyun Obo, other important light rare earth mines are concentrated in Liangshan, Sichuan Province and Weishan, Shandong Province, mainly: Sichuan Mianning and Jinpanxi rare earth deposits under the jurisdiction of the Southern rare Earth Group; Chinalco's Leshansheng and its Mianning Mian Li rare earths, as well as China Steel Research Group and Chinalco Shandong Weishan rare earth mine.

Liangshan rare Earth Mine, Sichuan Province:

Since the discovery of rare earth ore in Sancha River, Mianning in 1960, Sichuan began to conduct a survey and detailed investigation of rare earth ore in 1986. Up to now, 29 rare earth deposits in Sichuan Province have been preliminarily identified, belonging to 9 genetic types. Rare earth mineral resources are concentrated in Panxi area, most of which are distributed in Mianning, Xichang, Dechang and other counties and cities of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, forming a rare earth resource concentration area of about 300km in the north and south. The Yak Ping in Mianning County and the continental trough in Dechang County are mainly distributed in Mianning County and Dechang County.

Yanniuping rare earth deposit is the first of all deposits. most of the industrial minerals of the deposit are fluorocarbon cerium ore, followed by fluorocarbon calcium cerium ore, a small amount of silicon titanium cerium ore and so on. 80% REO in the ore is concentrated in fluorocarbon cerium ore. Lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium and neodymium account for more than 98% of the rare earth ore, and the distribution of medium and heavy rare earth is only 1% ≤ 2%, which is a typical fluorocarbon cerium ore. The contents of europium and yttrium are higher than those of similar deposits abroad, and the single ore of rare earth minerals is easy to be separated and refined.

The development and utilization of rare earth elements in Sichuan began in 1989. the 109 geological team cooperated with Mianning County to explore the yak Niuping rare earth deposit. After nearly 20 years of development, the output has risen rapidly and has a certain scale. In the future, rare earth mining in Sichuan should be mined under reasonable and orderly conditions.

Now Liangshan Mianning County government has introduced Jiangxi Copper Group to integrate the mining and mineral processing of yak ping rare earth mine, which will achieve scientific and orderly scale mining.

Weishan rare Earth Mine, Shandong Province:

The mine is located in Tanghu Township, Weishan County, Shandong Province. it was discovered by the former Jinan Geological Bureau and 802 team from 1958 to 1962. the average geological grade is 3.13%, which belongs to quartz-barite-carbonate rare earth deposit. The composition of minerals and gangue is simple, mainly fluorocarbon cerium ore and fluorocarbon calcium cerium ore, accompanied by barite, calcite, quartz, fluorite and so on. the grain size of rare earth minerals is coarse, generally 0.5 mm ≤ 0.04 mm, which is easy to grind and separate ore.

Weishan rare Earth Concentrator was officially established in 1982 on a small scale. Between 1991 and 2001, rare earth concentrates with REO of 45 per cent and less than 50 per cent were produced. Due to the transfer of mining to underground mining, the grade of rare earth in raw ore is reduced and other reasons, the production of rare earth concentrate has decreased sharply after 2002, and the market share is very low.

Rare earth mines in the seven southern provinces:

Rare earth deposits have also been found in Lingnan areas such as Jiangxi, Fujian, Hunan, Guangdong and Guangxi, which are collectively referred to as "rare earth deposits in seven southern provinces". Among them, Jiangxi is relatively concentrated, but the amount of resources is much less than that in rare earth concentrated areas.

Rare earth deposits in seven southern provinces belong to weathering crust leaching rare earth deposits. in the late 1960s, ion adsorbed heavy rare earth deposits and ion adsorbed rare earth deposits were first found in Zodong, Longnan, Jiangxi Province. Weathering crust leaching rare earth ore-ion adsorption rare earth ore is a unique new type of rare earth deposit in China, which has not been reported abroad. After more than 20 years of research, it is found that this type of ore has the characteristics of wide distribution on the ground, large reserves, low radioactivity, easy mining, simple extraction process, low production cost and good product quality.

Rare earth mineral resources are widely distributed in China, and the annual rare earth production also accounts for the majority of the global total output. According to the US Geological Survey, global rare earth production was 130000 tons in 2017, of which China's mine production reached 105000 tons, accounting for 80.77 per cent of the world's total production. In addition to China, Australia, Russia, India and Brazil also have some production. But China accounts for most of the world's rare earth production, and China has controlled the total amount of rare earth mining, global rare earth production has remained in the range of 10-140000 tons for a long time.

In fact, due to illegal rare earth mining in China, the world's actual rare earth production is higher than the previous range. The higher mine production is "black rare earth", some of which comes from stolen mining, while the other part comes from rare earth mines in Myanmar, Vietnam and other places. The existence of "black rare earth" has brought great interference to the exploration of rare earth reserves and the statistics of production.

According to China's rare earth mining quota, light rare earth accounts for the majority of rare earth production, accounting for 83% in recent years, while the proportion of medium and heavy rare earth is stable at about 17%.

According to the latest figures from the US Geological Survey, China's production quota for rare earth mining in 2017 was 105000 tons, the same as in 2016. At the same time, as of September 2017, China's rare earth exports reached 39800 tons, an increase of 10 per cent over the same period last year.

On the whole, the surplus of rare earth production in China is becoming more and more prominent. The market supply far exceeds the total world demand, and the real production capacity is far greater than the total production control of the government. Therefore, in recent years, resolutely crack down on the "black rare earth" industrial chain, promote the rare earth industry to healthy production of the road to become the focus of industry development. Strengthen the geological exploration of rare earth resources, combined with environmental protection and market demand, formulate a reasonable mining plan, clear rare earth mining areas, slow mining areas, as well as the scope and sequence of mining, and so on. We will strengthen legal management and strictly grasp the examination, approval and management of rare earth mine exploration and mining rights in accordance with the law.