SITUATION AND POLICIES OF CHINA'S RARE EARTH INDUSTRY

"After more than 50 years of excessive mining, China’s rare earth reserves have kept declining and the years of guaranteed rare earth supply have been [reduced]. The decline of rare earth resources in major mining areas is accelerating, as most of the original resources are depleted. In Baotou, only one-third of the original volume of rare earth resources is available in the main mining areas, and the reserve-extraction ratio of ion-absorption rare earth mines in China’s southern provinces has declined from 50 two decades ago to to the present 15 ... illegal mining has severely depleted local resources, and mines rich in reserves and easy to exploit were favored over the others."

Eine Studie des chinesischen Kabinetts über die zunehmende Erschöpfung der Lagerstätten seltener Erden in China, welches zu über 90% den weltweiten Bedarf jener 17 Elemente deckt und dabei einerseits mit Förderungs- und Exportbeschränkungen versucht, die durch den Abbau bedingten Umweltschäden zu begrenzen, andererseits aber gegen die Auslegung der WTO-Richtlinien mancher Importlänger verstößt. Erschienen beim Information Office of the State Council, Beijing, The People’s Republic of China (20. Juni 2012).