Full Text: Situation and Policies of China's Rare Earth Industry

II. Principles and Targets of Development

1. Fundamental Principles

- Adhering to environmental protection and resource conservation. The state will implement stricter standards for ecological protection and protective exploitation policies concerning rare earth resources, improve relevant laws and regulations on the industry's administration, and crack down on all violations of laws and regulations according to law.

- Adhering to total-amount control and optimizing reserves. The state will quicken its steps to implement the conglomerate strategy, promote structural adjustment of the industry, actively push forward technological innovation, strictly control the mining, smelting and separating capacities, phase out outdated capacity, and further increase the concentration rate of the industry.

- Adhering to giving consideration to both the domestic and international markets and resources. The state will take synchronized administrative measures on rare earth mining, production and export, and encourage international exchanges and cooperation.

- Adhering to coordinated development of local economy and society. The state will strive to correctly handle the relations between local and overall development and current and long-term development, and maintain a normal order of industrial development.

2. Main Targets

Within a short period of time, the state will strive to establish a regulated and orderly system of rare earth resource exploitation, smelting and separating, and market circulation, and effectively control the disorderly exploitation of resource, deterioration of the ecological environment, blind expansion of production, and rampant smuggling; increase the recycling rate of rare earth resources, the recycling rate of ore dressing recovery, and the rate of comprehensive utilization, enforce effective control over the intensity of resource exploitation, and restore the reserve-extraction ratio to a proper level. It will make sure the discharge of waste water and gas and slag meet the established standards, and effectively restore the ecological environment in key areas. It will push forward merger and reorganization in the rare earth industry, and develop large-scale, highly efficient, and clean production enterprises. New product development and new technology application will be accelerated. On this basis, the state will further improve related policies and laws and regulations regarding the rare earth industry, gradually establish a unified, standardized, and highly efficient administrative system for the industry, and develop a sustainable and healthy development pattern featuring rational mining, orderly production, efficient utilization, advanced technology and intensive development.