China achieves major breakthroughs in exploitation and utilization of rare metals

China has achieved significant breakthroughs in the exploitation and utilization of scattered rare metals, critical raw materials for high-tech industries, enhancing the resilience and security of the supply chain for strategic emerging industries.

The Ministry of Natural Resources announced Wednesday that the country has developed efficient extraction technologies for low- to medium-grade scattered rare metals from coal, aluminum, copper, lead, and zinc ores.

Wang Haibei, vice-general manager of the State-owned BGRIMM Technology Group, emphasized the foundational role of scattered rare metals in strategic emerging industries. These metals are crucial for sectors such as new energy, new materials, information technology, and national defense and military industries.

"In China, rare and scattered metals are primarily associated with minerals such as coal, aluminum, copper, lead, zinc, and molybdenum, and are considered strategically advantageous resources," Wang said.

"However, for a long time, we have faced significant challenges, including lengthy extraction and metallurgy processes, low recovery rates, and unstable quality of high-purity products, along with low yield rates," Wang said, noting that industrial development is also constrained by reliance on other countries for high-end raw materials and advanced products.

To address these challenges, the country has implemented a series of initiatives during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), with enterprises serving as the main drivers of innovation to meet practical demands. A collaborative innovation system has been established, involving enterprises, research institutions, and universities.

With technological advancements, the comprehensive recovery rate for germanium — a material used in semiconductors and solar cells — has improved from 55 percent to 80 percent. In the copper melting process, recovery rates have also increased for other materials: from 93 percent to 97 percent for selenium, used in transistors and phototubes; from 65 percent to 90 percent for tellurium, another material for semiconductors and solar cells; and from 70 percent to 80 percent for rhenium, used in electrical contact points, mass spectrometers, and X-ray machines.

In addition, China has made major strides in developing critical technologies and core equipment required for producing high-purity products from rare, scattered metals. This includes the development of the first domestically produced planar high-purity germanium detector and the establishment of high-end raw material production lines, such as those for high-purity germanium, facilitating the transition from primary products to high-end products.

Feng Wenli, director of the Ministry of Natural Resources' Department of Science and Technology, highlighted the country's upcoming scientific and technological endeavors for the next five years.

"During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, global competition for resources will intensify, and the situation will become more severe. It is necessary to leverage science and technology to enhance the resilience and security of industrial and supply chains," Feng said.

He added that the new plan aims to pave a path toward technological self-reliance, ensuring high-level security while also driving industrial development with enhanced quality and productivity.