China’s Inner Mongolia region aims to earn five times more from rare earths by 2025
- Northern region aiming for rare earth production value of 100 billion yuan by 2025, as fears linger over China’s control over global supply
- Chinese rare earth capital of Baotou should become world’s ‘magnet valley’, official says
China’s northern Inner Mongolia region is aiming for a fivefold increase in rare earth production value by 2025. This comes as the country’s near-total dominance of global supply raises concerns about its possible use as a bargaining chip.
“Inner Mongolia’s rare earth industry is in the unique position of having three elements – resources, manufacturing, and research and development – in one place,” deputy chief of industry and information technology Wu Suhai said as he called for a consolidation of industry chains.
The region aims to reach rare earth production value of 100 billion yuan (US$15.7 billion) by 2025, he said on Sunday, an increase of about five times over 2020 figures.
Rare earths are a group of 17 metals essential to manufacturing circuitry found in everyday electronics from fridges to mobile phones, as well as military vehicles.
The F-35 fighter jet, for instance, contains 417kg (919 lbs) of rare earths, making up about 3 per cent of its mass. The metals are also used in green technology, such as electric car batteries, wind turbines and solar panels.
China’s supply of more than 85 per cent of the world’s rare earth elements has led to fears that it could limit supply as a geopolitical leverage, disrupting industrial chains and hitting key industries of countries such as the United States, with which it has an ongoing trade war.
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Amid US-China trade war, China aims to elevate its domestic rare earth industry
Baotou, the Inner Mongolian city known as China’s rare earth capital and home to the vast majority of the region’s rare earths extraction and processing facilities, reported 21.9 billion yuan in production value last year.