(Source: China Metallurgical News)

The Middle East has oil, and China has rare earths. This is an important statement made by Comrade Deng Xiaoping regarding China's rare earths. Nowadays, a considerable number of rare earth enterprises in our country talk about these two sentences, but overlook the latter two sentences - we must do a good job in rare earth affairs and give full play to China's rare earth advantages. On the morning of October 18th, during the rare earth industry planning and promotion meeting and the mobilization meeting for rectifying the rare earth order, Jia Yinsong, inspector of the Raw Materials Industry Department and director of the Rare Earth Office of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, interpreted the recently released "Development Plan for the Rare Earth Industry (2016-2020)" and pointed out that these last two sentences are precisely the significance of the release of the "Plan".

Based on sufficient significance

During the 12th Five Year Plan period, the rare earth industry did not introduce corresponding plans, so the compilation of this plan is even more significant. Especially in recent years, there have been significant changes in the resource utilization level and market situation of the rare earth industry, and the country has also introduced relevant policies and regulations. In this situation, what are the basis for the preparation of the "Plan" and what is the significance of its release?

Regarding this, Jia Yinsong introduced that the "Plan" is based on policy documents such as the "Suggestions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Formulating the Thirteenth Five Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development," "Outline of the Thirteenth Five Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development," "Made in China 2025," "National Medium - and Long Term Scientific and Technological Development Plan," and "Several Opinions of the State Council on Promoting the Sustainable and Healthy Development of the Rare Earth Industry" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions"), and is connected with plans such as the "National Mineral Resources Plan (2016-2020)," New Materials Industry Development Plan (2016-2020), "and" Industrial Green Development Plan (2016-2020). ".

He also pointed out that the "Plan" comprehensively summarizes the positive progress made by the rare earth industry in resource protection, industrial upgrading, application development, scientific and technological innovation, and system construction during the "Twelfth Five Year Plan" period, especially since the release of the "Several Opinions". It deeply analyzes the prominent problems and new situations that still exist in the current industry development. The 13th Five Year Plan will take the development concept of "innovation, coordination, green, openness, and sharing" as the main line, take the implementation of the national strategic development of "Made in China 2025" as an opportunity, focus on the ten key areas of "Made in China 2025" with high relevance to the rare earth industry, vigorously develop the high-end application of rare earth functional materials, accelerate the transformation and upgrading of the rare earth industry, promote the structural reform of the rare earth supply side, and promote China's rare earth industry to adapt, grasp, and lead the "new normal" of the economy, achieving sustainable and healthy development. Jia Yinsong said, "The main problem in our rare earth industry now is' surplus at the low end and insufficient at the high end '. Therefore, we must carry out supply side structural reform, promote industrial transformation and upgrading, and move towards the mid to high end."

In the 13th Five Year Plan, we must fully leverage the strategic value and supporting role of rare earth functional materials

When it comes to the development situation faced by the rare earth industry, Jia Yinsong believes that overall, the opportunities for the development of China's rare earth industry outweigh the challenges. He said, "The 13th Five Year Plan period is a crucial period for China's rare earth industry to transform and upgrade, improve quality and efficiency. From a macro perspective, with the continuous deepening of the world scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, the strategic value of rare earth will be further highlighted. The development of China's rare earth industry will face competition pressure from advanced countries in terms of patent technology, talent and funding, as well as significant development opportunities brought about by the development of strategic emerging industries and the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries. From the perspective of application demand, sustainable development strategies," Made in China 2025 ", and other initiatives have created new space for the development of the rare earth industry. The application prospects of rare earth functional materials are extremely broad, and market demand in areas such as rail transit, new energy vehicles, and electronic information can further increase significantly. The application of rare earth products can be greatly enhanced." The growth in quantity will drive the rare earth industry to maintain medium to high speed development

The main development direction of the rare earth industry during the 13th Five Year Plan period is a key topic of concern for industry insiders. Regarding this, Jia Yinsong introduced that based on the current situation, facing situation, and judgment of future development trends of China's rare earth industry, the "Plan" clearly defines the construction of a new pattern of rare earth industry with "reasonable development, orderly production, efficient utilization, scientific and technological innovation, and coordinated development" as the main development direction of the "13th Five Year Plan". Under the premise of protecting rare earth strategic resources and continuing to compress excess smelting and separation capacity, the focus is on developing high-end functional materials and devices of rare earth, expanding the mid to high end application of rare earth functional materials, accelerating the transformation and upgrading of the rare earth industry, improving the quality and efficiency of industry development, and playing the strategic value and supporting role of rare earth in transforming traditional industries, developing emerging industries, and national defense technology industry.

Construct 6 key projects around 6 key tasks

The Plan proposes six key tasks for the development of the rare earth industry during the 13th Five Year Plan period, and Jia Yinsong has analyzed each of these six tasks one by one.

One is to strengthen resource and ecological protection, and promote sustainable development. Reasonably regulate the total amount of rare earth mining and production to ensure the sustainable development needs of the national economy; Strictly implement pollutant emission standards and establish a green development mechanism; Establish a rare earth product reserve system in which national reserves and enterprise reserves complement each other; Strengthen the monitoring of the mining, production, and circulation of medium and heavy rare earths, and resolutely crack down on illegal and irregular activities in the mining, production, and circulation of rare earths.

The second is to support innovation systems and capacity building, and cultivate new driving forces for industry development. Aiming at national strategic needs such as Made in China 2025 and strategic emerging industries, we will improve the innovation system, build rare earth innovation centers and service platforms, strengthen the construction of intellectual property rights and standard systems, break the barriers of overseas intellectual property rights, support the mechanism research of rare earth functional materials and the construction of gene banks, and lead the future of new rare earth functional materials and key technologies for green preparation.

The third is to promote intensive and high-end development, and adjust and optimize the structure. Continue to implement the large group strategy, achieve intensive production of rare earth mining, smelting separation, and comprehensive resource utilization; Promote the high-value utilization of rare earth materials, enhance the guarantee ability of key materials and components, and cultivate the application of rare earths in key fields such as industrial robots, high-end CNC machine tools, rail transit, and ocean engineering.

The fourth is to accelerate the transformation towards greenery and intelligence, and build a circular economy. Improve the environmental protection level of enterprises and reduce energy and material consumption; Strengthen the comprehensive utilization of tailings and associated resources, and improve the comprehensive utilization rate of resources; Accelerate intelligent transformation, build digital mines and intelligent factories; Expand the application of high abundance elements such as lanthanum, cerium, and yttrium in industrial energy conservation, environmental protection, and other fields, develop technologies for reducing terbium dysprosium and replacing praseodymium neodymium, and develop low-cost rare earth permanent magnet materials.

The fifth is to promote the utilization of overseas resources and strengthen international cooperation. Support rare earth enterprises to go global and cooperate in the development of overseas resources and deep processing of products; Encourage enterprises to cooperate with overseas new material enterprises and technology research and development institutions to enhance their international operational capabilities; Promote the internationalization of Chinese rare earth standards and achieve the integration of domestic and international rare earth standards.

Six is to build a new value chain and achieve mutual benefit and win-win results. Developing deep processing near rare earth resource areas to promote poverty alleviation in revolutionary old areas and impoverished areas; Establish a new value chain, expand the application of rare earths in downstream fields such as energy conservation, environmental protection, and household appliances, and achieve upstream and downstream benefit sharing and coordinated development; Carry out the research and production of military civilian dual-use rare earth new materials, and promote the sharing of military civilian resources in the field of rare earth new materials.

Around the development goals and key tasks, the Plan also proposes six key projects: the construction of rare earth public services and innovation platforms, rare earth basic research, high-value utilization of rare earths, green upgrading and transformation of rare earths, deep integration of the rare earth industry and industrialization, and green application of rare earths.

Regarding how to promote the implementation of these six key projects, Jia Yinsong said, "During the 13th Five Year Plan period, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will work with relevant departments, local governments, industry associations, key enterprises, and other channels to further refine the content of various projects, decompose tasks into key areas and enterprises, and comprehensively promote implementation. We have requested relevant provincial (district, city) industrial regulatory departments and key enterprises to propose key development directions and projects for the next five years, establish a project library, summarize about 400 projects, and have a total investment of nearly 40 billion yuan. We will use various funding channels to select a batch of projects with good industrialization foundation, broad market prospects, and the ability to scale development for centralized support."

Six measures to ensure policy implementation

Regarding the issue of how to effectively implement the six safeguard measures proposed in the Plan (including playing a coordinating mechanism role, improving policy and regulatory systems, increasing financial and tax support, improving investment and financing guarantee mechanisms, strengthening market supervision, and strengthening foreign exchange and cooperation), Jia Yinsong said: "We will focus on strengthening the coordination and connection between the Plan and policies related to science and technology, finance and taxation, land resources, finance, etc., and play the role of intermediary organizations such as associations and societies. We will introduce the Rare Metals Management Regulations, establish a rare earth product traceability system, improve rare earth mining and production total control management methods, and regulate the rare earth industry. We will coordinate and support rare earth technology research and development, application industry development, and resource transformation and upgrading through channels such as the central financial science and technology plan. We will establish a" government industry academia research and integration "system. Support and promote the system, and improve the regulatory system for the entire rare earth industry chain; Encourage and promote enterprises to "go global" and carry out cooperation in foreign rare earth resource development and material deep processing projects

It is understood that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is currently actively promoting the legislation of the Regulations on the Management of Rare Metals, which has been included in the second category legislative plan of the State Council and will be promulgated as soon as possible; The rare earth product traceability system began trial operation in six large rare earth groups in the first half of this year, striving to be officially operational in early 2017; The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will also improve the management measures for the total control plan of rare earth production, implement comprehensive and unified management of rare earth mining, smelting separation, and resource utilization, and promote intensive production to eliminate illegal production and circulation of rare earth from the source, forcing enterprises to invest in the application industry and achieve industrial transformation and upgrading. These key policies will provide strong support for the implementation of the Plan, thereby enhancing the core competitiveness of China's rare earth industry.