Baotou Rare Earth High-tech Zone: Pursuing Long-term Development through "Green" Practices, Creating a Model for Low-carbon Development in the Rare Earth Industry

Recently, on the basis of an existing capacity of 20,000 mt for high-performance rare earth permanent magnet materials, JL MAG Rare-Earth (Baotou) Technology Co., Ltd., the world's first net-zero carbon factory in the rare earth permanent magnet industry, commenced construction of its Phase III green and intelligent manufacturing project for high-performance rare earth permanent magnet materials with an annual output of 20,000 mt in the Baotou Rare Earth High-tech Zone, Inner Mongolia.

With green development as its core objective, the project integrates advanced intelligent production processes and a full-process digital control system, primarily constructing a green and intelligent manufacturing production line and production workshops for high-performance rare earth permanent magnet materials. Upon completion, the annual capacity of rare earth permanent magnet materials at JL MAG Rare-Earth's Baotou base will reach 40,000 mt, further solidifying its position as the world's largest production site for rare earth permanent magnet materials.

NdFeB is a new material enriched with rare earth elements, renowned as the "King of Magnets" due to its exceptional magnetic properties and broad downstream application potential. Targeting strategic emerging industries such as new energy and energy-saving environmental protection, JL MAG Rare-Earth has established an international R&D system, developing a range of core technologies with independent intellectual property rights, including grain boundary diffusion, fine grain, one-step forming, and highly corrosion-resistant new-type coatings. Leveraging its strong scientific research capabilities, the company has won the favour of numerous high-end customers both domestically and internationally, becoming a leading magnetic steel supplier in the fields of wind power generation, NEVs, and energy-saving inverter air conditioners.

JL MAG Rare-Earth serves as a vivid example of Baotou Rare Earth High-tech Zone's innovation-driven approach to advancing industries towards green and high-end development.

Resources are wealth, and green is productivity. Over the past two years, the Baotou Rare Earth High-tech Zone has firmly grasped the favorable opportunity of building the "two rare earth bases" and, through measures such as policy support and technical guidance, assisted enterprises in reducing costs, increasing efficiency, and enhancing their green competitiveness. It encourages and supports enterprises to engage in green manufacturing, continuously improving the green manufacturing system, promoting collaborative implementation of green development concepts among upstream and downstream enterprises in the industry chain, and accelerating the advancement of the rare earth industry towards the terminal of the industry chain.

As a core enterprise in the rare earth permanent magnet industry of the Baotou Rare Earth High-tech Zone, Baotou Yingsite Rare Magnetic New Material Co., Ltd. deeply understands that technological innovation is the core driving force for enterprise development. A team of over 200 R&D personnel continues to make efforts in key areas such as magnetic circuit design and precision machining, accelerating the enterprise's progress towards achieving goals such as automatic monitoring of equipment operation, fault warning and repair, production management optimization, collaborative design and manufacturing, energy conservation and consumption reduction, and product quality traceability, fully driving the enterprise to create a new green and low-carbon example.

Baotou Tianhe Magnetics Technology Co., Ltd. has reduced the usage of heavy rare earths in the production of rare earth permanent magnets from over 4% of the original proportion to 1%-2% through heavy rare earth diffusion technology and a unique raw material ratio for its products. The NdFeB rare earth permanent magnets that have been mass-produced and rolled off the production line boast reliable stability and strong anti-demagnetization capabilities, earning high favour in the market. Orders from NEV enterprises have surged dramatically.

"Greenness is not just skin-deep but also intrinsic. Reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions requires innovation. We have continuously optimized our processes and technologies, achieving technological upgrades and product innovations," said Dong Yi, Deputy General Manager and Chief Engineer of Tianhe Magnetics.

In recent years, Baotou Rare Earth High-tech Zone has vigorously promoted the construction of a green manufacturing system for the rare earth industry. Recently, among the "2025 Enterprise Green Transition and ESG Practice Cases" list announced by the All-China Environment Federation, the practice case of China Northern Rare Earth stood out among 129 cases submitted by enterprises nationwide and was successfully selected.

As a top-tier enterprise in the rare earth industry, China Northern Rare Earth has vigorously implemented a green development strategy, constructing a green manufacturing system led by green factories and green supply chains. In the past two years, it has cultivated five green manufacturing demonstration units at the municipal level or above; innovatively implemented a carbon neutrality technology roadmap covering the entire industry chain, achieving a significant improvement in energy utilization efficiency through the construction of PV power plants and an intelligent energy management platform. Unit energy consumption decreased by 7.82% YoY, demonstrating green development in action.

Not long ago, the Department of Industry and Information Technology of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region announced the list of green manufacturing demonstration units at the autonomous region level for 2025. Baotou Rare Earth High-tech Zone achieved remarkable results, occupying 16 out of 132 green factories in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, accounting for 12% of the total, becoming a prominent model for green manufacturing development in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. In terms of green supply chain selection, 41 enterprises from the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region were listed, with four enterprises from Baotou Rare Earth High-tech Zone among them, accounting for approximately 10%.

"Technological innovation is the key to the green development of the rare earth industry," said Li Bin, Deputy General Manager of Baotou Cixin Electronics Co., Ltd. Relying on Baotou's rare earth resource advantages, the company has continuously increased its investment in scientific and technological R&D. The independently developed three-axis closed-loop anti-shake motor uses NdFeB permanent magnet materials, accelerating the motor's focusing speed, improving lens accuracy, and enhancing imaging quality, placing the product at an internationally leading level. Currently, the company has an annual production capacity of 30 million units and cooperates with many well-known domestic and overseas mobile phone brands. Robust market demand has enabled the company to complete its annual production plan with orders received in the first half of the year.

Baotou Rare Earth High-tech Zone continues to enhance its reputation as a "National Green Industrial Park," seizing the opportunities presented by the national development of hydrogen energy and NEV industries, accelerating the transformation, upgrading, and green development process of characteristic industries. Driving industrial innovation through technological innovation, it is building a rare earth circular economy industry chain, implementing rare earth new material industrial internet projects, improving product yield by 5%, reducing energy consumption by 10%, and increasing indirect economic benefits by 20%. For enterprises that adopt advanced green technologies and equipment, policy subsidies will be provided to reduce the costs of their green transformation and stimulate their enthusiasm for participating in green development.

Currently, in the Baotou Rare Earth High-tech Zone, as the construction pace of the "two rare earth bases" is accelerated, "green development" is running through the entire process of the rare earth industry's development. Major rare earth enterprises are continuously improving energy efficiency, actively engaging in R&D and widely applying green and low-carbon technologies, accelerating the green and coordinated development of the industry chain cluster, comprehensively enhancing the green value of the rare earth industry, and helping the added value of the rare earth industry to continuously rise.