U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

China’s Rare-Earth Industry

By Pui-Kwan Tse

Open–File Report 2011–1042
U.S. Department of the Interior

KEN SALAZAR, Secretary

U.S. Geological Survey

Marcia K. McNutt, Director

U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia: 2011 

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Suggested citation:

Tse, Pui-Kwan, 2011, China’s rare-earth industry: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2011–1042, 11 p., 

available only online. 

Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply 

endorsement by the U.S. Government. 

Although this report is in the public domain, permission must be secured from the individual 

copyright owners to reproduce any copyrighted material contained within this report.
iii

Contents

Introduction.................................................................................................................................................................... 1

China’s Resources of Rare Earths................................................................................................................................. 1

China’s Production of Rare Earths................................................................................................................................. 2

China’s Consumption of Rare Earths............................................................................................................................. 5

China’s Rare-Earth Policies........................................................................................................................................... 5

China’s Rare-Earth Trade.............................................................................................................................................. 6

China’s Rare-Earth Development Plan .......................................................................................................................... 9

References Cited......................................................................................................................................................... 10

Figure

1. Graph showing global rare-earth-oxide production trends ................................................................................ 3 

Tables

1. China's rare-earth production, consumption, and export quotas for 2000 through 2011................................... 4 

2. China's rare-earth export duty rates ................................................................................................................. 8
iv

Conversion Factors

Multiply By To obtain

Mass

metric ton (t, 1,000 kilograms)

million metric tons (Mt)

1.102

1.102

short ton (2,000 pounds 

avoirdupois)

million short tons
1 

China’s Rare-Earth Industry

By Pui-Kwan Tse

Introduction

China’s dominant position as the producer of over 95 percent of the world output of rare-earth 

minerals and rapid increases in the consumption of rare earths owing to the emergence of new cleanenergy and defense-related technologies, combined with China’s decisions to restrict exports of rare 

earths, have resulted in heightened concerns about the future availability of rare earths. As a result, 

industrial countries such as Japan, the United States, and countries of the European Union face tighter 

supplies and higher prices for rare earths. This paper briefly reviews China’s rare-earth production, 

consumption, and reserves and the important policies and regulations regarding the production and trade 

of rare earths, including recently announced export quotas. 

The 15 lanthanide elements—lanthanum, cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, promethium, 

samarium, europium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, holmium, erbium, thulium, ytterbium, and 

lutetium (atomic numbers 57–71)—were originally known as the rare earths from their occurrence in 

oxides mixtures. Recently, some researchers have included two other elements—scandium and 

yttrium—in their discussion of rare earths. Yttrium (atomic number 39), which lies above lanthanum in 

transition group III of the periodic table and has a similar 3+ ion with a noble gas core, has both atomic 

and ionic radii similar in size to those of terbium and dysprosium and is generally found in nature with 

lanthanides. Scandium (atomic number 21) has a smaller ionic radius than yttrium and the lanthanides, 

and its chemical behavior is intermediate between that of aluminum and the lanthanides. It is found in 

nature with the lanthanides and yttrium.

Rare earths are used widely in high-technology and clean-energy products because they impart 

special properties of magnetism, luminescence, and strength. Rare earths are also used in weapon 

systems to obtain the same properties.

China’s Resources of Rare Earths

China is rich in rare-earth resources and produces a number of different kinds of rare-earth 

products. China’s scientists discovered rare-earth resources in Bayan Obo in 1927 and started the 

production of rare-earth concentrates in 1957. After more than 8 decades of exploration, rare-earth 

resources have been discovered in 21 of China’s Provinces and Autonomous Regions—Fujian, Gansu, 

Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Jilin, Liaoning, Nei Mongol, 

Qinghai, Shaanxi, Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Xinjiang, Yunnan, and Zhejiang. 

As of 1998, the country’s total rare-earth resource (资源量) was reported to be 92 million metric 

tons (Mt) (Wen, 1998, p. 140). In 2009, China’s Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR) reported that 

the country had rare-earth reserves (储量) of 18.6 Mt in rare-earth-oxide (REO) content (China National 

Bureau of Statistics, 2010, p. 410). 
2 

China’s reserve and resource system divides the country’s minerals into reserves (储量) and 

resources (资源量) (China National Material and Technical Control Bureau, 1999). Reserves are 

divided into proved extractable reserves (可采储量) (code 111), probable extractable reserves 

(预可采储量) (code 121), and basic reserves (基础储量) (code 122). The discovered mineral resources 

are divided into measured, indicated, and inferred. Comparisons with different reserve systems are 

difficult and always approximate. The basic reserve (基础储量) in the Chinese reserve classification 

system best approximates reserves as defined by the U.S. Bureau of Mines and U.S. Geological Survey 

(1980) in USGS Circular 831, “Principles of a Resource/Reserve Classification for Minerals.” The MLR 

publishes the country’s reserve and resource data yearly, but these reports are not available to overseas 

researchers. Estimation of China’s rare-earth basic reserve (基础储量) was 55 Mt in REO (China 

National Material and Technical Control Bureau, 1999). 

China’s Production of Rare Earths

China’s main rare-earth production takes place in the Provinces of Fujian, Guangdong, Jiangxi, 

and Sichuan and in Nei Mongol Autonomous Region. Nei Mongol accounted for between 50 percent 

and 60 percent of China’s total rare-earth concentrate output during the past decade. Sichuan Province 

was the second leading rare-earth concentrate producer, accounting for between 24 percent and 30 

percent of production during the past decade. The remaining output was from the Provinces of Fujian, 

Guangdong, and Jiangxi, which are important for their production of “heavy” rare earths (Chen, 2010; 

Geological Publishing House, 2010). 

Between 1990 and 2000, China’s production increased over 450 percent to 73,000 metric tons (t) 

from about 16,000 t (fig. 1). During the same period, production from other countries declined almost 

60 percent to about 16,000 t from 44,000 t. As a result, world production increased just over 150 percent

to almost 91,000 t from about 60,000 t between 1990 and 2000. Since 2000, world and Chinese 

production have continued to increase; by 2009, world production increased 45 percent to about 132,000 

t, and Chinese production increased 77 percent to 129,000 t. Production from other countries decreased 

to about 3,000 t in 2009. 

The volume of China’s rare-earth output as a percentage of total world output increased to more 

than 90 percent in 2008 from 27 percent in 1990. During the past 15 years, China has supplied more 

than 80 percent of the world’s rare earths as concentrates, intermediate products, and chemicals. 

Although Chinese production expanded rapidly, China’s rare-earth producers reportedly have struggled 

to maintain profitability. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, the Government and rare-earth producers 

had met and discussed ways to control production and exports as a means of conserving the country’s 

mineral resources and protecting the environment. Nevertheless, competition among local governments 

and enterprises resulted in sustained high levels of production. Local governments depended upon rareearth producers to provide employment and revenue for local economic development and did not always 

follow the national Government’s guidelines on rare earths. As a result, the country’s actual output of 

rare-earth concentrate continued to exceed the Government’s production target (China State Council, 

2006). Since 2006, the Government has stepped up enforcement of its policies and regulations and shut 

down illegal mines in the Provinces of Guangdong, Jiangxi, and Sichuan. Consequently, production of 

rare earths has been approximately level during the past 5 years (table 1).
3 

Figure 1. Global rare-earth-oxide production trends. The Mountain Pass deposit is in California, U.S.A. Graph from D.J. Cordier (U.S. Geological 

Survey, written commun., 2011) was updated from Haxel and others (2002, fig. 1). 
4 

Table 1. China's rare-earth production, consumption, and export quotas for 2000 through 2011. 

[In metric tons of rare-earth-oxide (REO) equivalent except as described in footnote 1. Abbreviations used: est., estimated; MIIT; China Ministry of Industry and 

Information Technology; MLR, China Ministry of Land and Resources; NA, not available. Sources: China Ministry of Commerce (2006, 2008a,b, 2009, 

2010a,b,c)]

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Production quota MIIT 119,500 110,700 89,200 NA

MLR 55,000 NA NA NA NA NA 86,620 87,020 90,180 87,620 89,200 NA

Production (est.) 73,000 81,000 88,000 92,000 98,000 119,000 133,000 120,000 125,000 129,000 120,000 NA

Consumption (est.) 19,000 20,000 22,000 30,000 34,000 52,000 63,000 73,000 67,700 73,000 77,000 NA

Export quota Domestic producers and 1 traders 47,000 45,000 NA 40,000 45,000 48,010 45,000 43,574 34,156 31,310 22,5122 14,4463

1 Sino-foreign joint ventures NA NA NA NA NA 17,570 16,070 16,069 15,834 16,845 7,7464

1

Export quotas are in gross weight rather than REO content for domestic producers and traders and Sino-foreign producers in 2005 and later years.

2

Total export quota for 22 domestic producers and traders.

3

Export quota for 2011 is only for the first tranche for 31 domestic producers and traders and Sino-foreign joint-venture producers.

4

Total export quota for Sino-foreign producers.
5 

China’s Consumption of Rare Earths

Although China’s production of rare-earth minerals increased markedly between 1990 and 2000, 

China’s consumption of rare earths did not undergo a similar increase until after 2000. In 1990, Chinese 

consumption of rare earths was relatively small; however, by 2000, China’s consumption had reached 

about 19,000 t, and world consumption was about 91,000 t. If production and consumption were about 

equal, then consumption was about 72,000 t by the rest of the world. From 2000 to 2009, China’s 

consumption of rare earths increased rapidly; by 2005, China’s consumption had reached almost 52,000 

t and, by 2009, China’s rare earth consumption was 73,000 t, about 380 percent higher than in 2000. 

The 2009 production and consumption data suggest that consumption of rare earths by the rest of the 

world has decreased to about 59,000 t. Given the rapid development of new products using rare earths, 

this seems unlikely and suggests that some production, possibly 20,000 t to 40,000 t, has not been 

accounted for in publicly available production statistics. 

In China, the magnet sector accounted for about 30 percent of the total rare-earth use followed 

by metallurgical, 15 percent; chemical and petroleum, 10 percent; ceramics and glass, 10 percent; 

agriculture and textile, 10 percent; hydrogen storage, 9 percent; and others, 16 percent. In 1987, rareearth applications in the new material industry, which includes the production of such products as 

catalysts, magnets, phosphors, and polishing powder, accounted for about 1 percent of the total mineral 

consumed; by 2008, however, it increased to more than 53 percent. In China, rare-earth consumption by

the new material sector is expected to increase faster than the other traditional industrial sectors.

China’s Rare-Earth Policies

In 1990, the Chinese Government declared rare earths to be a protected and strategic mineral. As 

a consequence, foreign investors are prohibited from mining rare earths and are restricted from 

participating in rare-earth smelting and separation projects except in joint ventures with Chinese firms. 

All projects for rare-earth mining and smelting, whatever their size, required approval from the State 

Development and Planning Commission (SDPC) (formerly the State Planning Commission), which 

included the Rare-Earth Office. Sino-foreign joint-venture projects had to be approved by both SDPC 

and the Ministry of Commerce (MOC); prior to 2003, the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic 

Cooperation (MOFTEC) approved Sino-foreign joint ventures in rare earths. 

Since the early 1990s, MLR has been responsible for developing production plans for the 

country’s strategic commodities, including rare earths. The plans include overall production quotas, as 

well as quotas for individual Provinces. Provincial governments are responsible for managing their 

Province’s allocated quota and for assigning output quotas to individual mining companies. Despite 

production quotas, the output of rare earths and other commodities has been much higher than the 

Government’s target. In addition, a significant amount of the over-quota production was by miners who 

worked without proper mining licenses and who used obsolete mining technology that caused 

significant environmental damage, especially in the Provinces of Guangdong, Jiangxi, and Sichuan. 

In 2008, the Rare-Earth Office was transferred to the Ministry of Industry and Information 

Technology (MIIT), which started issuing a rare-earth production quota for the country. The MIIT quota 

was much higher than the one set by MLR (table 1); this caused confusion among rare-earth producers. 

During 2008 and 2009, there was an apparent lack of communication between the MIIT and MLR about 

which agency should assign the country’s rare-earth production quota. The MIIT rare-earth production 

quota appeared to be more reflective of rare-earth output of the country (table 1). This confusion came 

to an end in 2010 when both agencies set the same rare-earth production quota. 
6 

China’s Rare-Earth Trade

In addition to setting production quotas for rare earths, China also sets quotas on the amount of 

rare earths that can be exported. These quotas are released in two tranches. Before 2003, rare-earth 

export quotas were determined by the SDPC and were distributed by the State Economic and Trade 

Commission (SETC), and the MOFTEC issued the licenses. After the SETC and MOFTEC were 

abolished, the MOC took over responsibility for the issuance and distribution of export licenses. 

Separate export quotas are set for domestic rare-earth producers and for Sino-foreign joint-venture rareearth producers. Sino-foreign joint-venture rare-earth companies are allowed to export their own

products under a licensing system. 

Owing to the increase in domestic demand, the Government has gradually reduced the export 

quota during the past several years. In 2006, the Government allowed 47 domestic rare-earth producers 

and traders and 12 Sino-foreign rare-earth producers to export rare-earth products. In 2009, only 23 

domestic rare-earth producers and traders and 11 Sino-foreign rare-earth producers were authorized to 

export rare-earth products. The number of permitted exporters was reduced to 22 domestic rare-earth 

producers and traders and 10 Sino-foreign rare-earth producers in 2010 and to 22 domestic rare-earth 

producers and traders and 9 Sino-foreign rare-earth producers in 2011. 

In addition to setting export quotas, the Government has encouraged the export of high-value 

downstream products and discouraged the export of raw material. The desire to encourage exports of 

finished products is reflected by a change in the way the export quota was released. Initially the export 

quota was released as rare-earth-oxide equivalent. During the past 6 years, the Government has 

specified the tonnage limit of specific rare-earth products that Sino-foreign joint ventures are allowed to 

export, such as oxides, salts, or metal. However, until June 2010, there was no specification by product 

form for domestic rare-earth producers and traders. Beginning in July 2010, the MOC ceased issuing 

separate export quotas to domestic and Sino-foreign joint-venture rare-earth producers and ceased 

specification by product for joint-venture producers (China Ministry of Commerce, 2006, 2008a,b, 

2009, 2010a,b,c). 

Between 2005 and 2007, the Government quota allocated more than 40,000 t of rare-earth 

production to domestic producers and traders and about 16,000 t to Sino-foreign joint-venture producers 

(table 1). In 2008, the Government reduced the rare-earth export quota for domestic rare-earth producers 

and traders by 21.6 percent from that of 2007; in 2009, it reduced the quota by an additional 2.5 percent. 

The rare-earth export quota for Sino-foreign joint-venture producers remained at the level of 16,000 t in 

2008 and 2009. In 2010, the Government allocated the first tranche of the rare-earth export quota, a total 

of 22,282 t (16,304 t to domestic and 5,978 t to Sino-foreign); this was more than the total of 21,728.1 t 

(15,043 t to domestic and 6,685.1 t to Sino-foreign) that was allocated for the first tranche for 2009. In 

the second tranche of the export quota allocated in July 2010, the Government allocated a total of 7,976 

t (6,208 t to domestic and 1,768 t to Sino-foreign), compared with a total of 26,427 t (16,267 t to 

domestic and 10,160 t to Sino-foreign) in 2009. The rare-earth export quota in 2010 was 37.1 percent 

less than in 2009. In 2011, the Government established a 14,446-t rare-earth export quota (10,762 t to 

domestic and 3,684 t to Sino-foreign), which was about 35 percent less than the first-tranche quota for 

2010 (China Ministry of Commerce, 2009, 2010a,b,c). 

In addition to issuing production and export quotas, China taxes mineral production to raise 

revenue and to regulate the mineral industries. In the 1990s, the Government encouraged enterprises to 

export their products by refunding the value-added tax that producers paid on exported products. In 

early 2000, owing to increased domestic consumption, the Government reduced the export rebate for 

many strategic commodities. In 2005, the rebate on exported rare earths was eliminated, and trade of 

rare-earth concentrate was banned. In 2007, the Government introduced an export duty on rare-earth 
7 

products to restrict the export of products that consume large amounts of energy to produce in order to 

protect the domestic supply of strategic minerals (table 2).

In 2008, China exported a total of 54,963 t (gross weight) of rare-earth products, including 

41,349 t of rare-earth oxides; 5,739 t of rare-earth salts; 4,550 t of rare-earth metals; 2,390 t of rare-earth 

alloys; and 935 t of other rare-earth products. In 2009, owing to the global financial recession, the 

demand for rare-earth products was weak, especially from Japan; therefore, China’s rare-earth exports 

decreased to 43,918 t, which included 32,084 t of rare-earth oxides; 6,082 t of rare-earth salts; 3,271 t of 

rare-earth metals; 2,075 t of rare-earth alloys; and 406 t of other rare-earth products (Yin, 2010).
8 

Table 2. China's rare-earth export 

[In percentage. Abbreviation used: NA, 

(2007–2011)] 

duty rates.

not available. Sources: China Customs Import and Export Tariff Department 

Commodity Export duty rate (%)

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011

Yttrium oxide

Lanthanum oxide

Cerium oxide, hydroxide, carbonate, and others

Praseodymium

Neodymium oxide

Europium and its oxide

Gadolinium

Terbium and its oxide, chloride, and carbonate

Dysprosium oxide, chloride, and carbonate

Holmium

Erbium

Thulium

Ytterbium

Lutetium

Other rare-earth oxide

Mixed rare-earth chlorides and fluorides

Mixed rare-earth carbonates

Mixed rare-earth, yttrium, and scandium 

compounds and metals (including battery grade)

Non-mixed rare-earth carbonates

Rare-earth ore

Metals:

Lanthanum 

Cerium 

Neodymium 

Dysprosium 

Other mixed metals

10

10

10

NA

10

10

NA

10

10

NA

NA

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10

10

10

10

 

10

10

NA

NA

10

NA

NA

25

15

15

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15

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15

15

15

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15

10

NA

NA

15

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25

15

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15

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15

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15

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15

15

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15

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15

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15

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15

15

25

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15

25

25
9 

China’s Rare-Earth Development Plan

According to China’s draft rare-earth development plan, annual rare-earth production may be 

limited to between 130,000 t and 140,000 t (REO) during the period from 2009 to 2015. The export 

quota for rare-earth products may be about 35,000 t (REO), and the Government may allow 20 domestic 

rare-earth producers and traders to export rare earths. The plan was proposed to control the export of 

rare-earth primary products, such as rare-earth salts, and to encourage the export of new rare-earth 

downstream material products. The Government will not ban the export of dysprosium and terbium but 

will limit the volume of export for these two elements. The Government will not approve any new rareearth separation projects before 2015. To protect rare-earth resources, rare-earth producers will be 

required to have a minimum mine output capacity of 300,000 metric tons per year (t/yr) of ore for light 

rare earths and 3,000 t/yr (REO) for ion-adsorption rare earths. The Government will ban monazite 

mining if the monazite contains radioactive elements. For rare-earth separation, producers will be 

required to have a separation output capacity of 8,000 t/yr (REO) of mixed rare earths, 5,000 t/yr (REO) 

of bastnaesite, and 3,000 t/yr (REO) of ion-adsorption rare earths. Metal smelting producers must have 

an output capacity of 1,500 t/yr. 

Rare-earth producers will be required to meet the environmental emission standards; otherwise, 

they will be shut down (China Ministry of Environmental Protection, 2011). 

The government of Nei Mongol Autonomous Region granted approval to Baotou Iron and Steel 

and Rare Earths Corp. to stockpile up to 30,000 t of rare-earth concentrates in Baotou. This will allow 

the company to increase the recovery of rare earths to 50 percent from 25 percent in the separation 

process (China Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, 2010; Wang, 2010).

During the past several years, the Government has continued to urge rare-earth producers to 

merge into large groups and to eliminate duplicate projects. Rare-earth producers realized that 

consolidation could benefit the rare-earth sector in China and would avoid unnecessary competition 

among themselves and associated financial losses. Dingnan Dahua New Materials Co. Ltd., Ganxian 

Hongjin Rare Earth Co. Ltd., and Minmetals Nonferrous Metals Co. Ltd. formed a joint-venture 

company, Minmetals Ganzhou Rare Earth Co. Ltd., to process rare-earth resources in Ganzhou, Jiangxi 

Province, in 2008. Most of China’s ion-adsorption rare earths are located in Ganzhou. There were 88 

rare-earth producers in Ganzhou, and 90 percent of them ceased their operations because of weak prices. 

Jiangxi Province had a reserve of 2.3 Mt of the ion-adsorption rare earths. Minmetals Ganzhou Rare 

Earth had a rare-earth separation capacity of 8,500 t/yr and planned to expand the separation capacity to 

13,500 t/yr within 5 years. The joint venture also planned to develop value-added rare-earth products for 

the aerospace and electronics sectors. 

Aluminum Corporation of China (Chinalco) signed an agreement with the government of 

Jiangxi Province to allow the company to consolidate the local nonferrous metals producers in the 

Province and to take shares of Jiangxi Rare Earth and Rare Metals Tungsten Group Co. Ltd. (JXTC). 

Chinalco and JXTC formed a joint-venture company, in which Chinalco held 51 percent of the shares, 

to manufacture nickel-cobalt products. JXTC was a leading producer of rare-earth products in Jiangxi 

Province. In 2003, Minmetals and JXTC formed a joint venture to produce tungsten products. 

Minmetals planned to acquire rare-earth resources in the Provinces of Guangdong and Hunan. 

Minmetals also planned to become the leading downstream rare-earth-product producer in the country. 

Chinalco and Minmetals are likely to compete for Jiangxi’s rare-earth resources (China Mining and 

Metals Weekly, 2010).
10

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Office of the Chinese Society of Rare Earths, April 7. (Accessed May 26, 2010, at 

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11

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