Cui Rongguo
World production of rare earth minerals was 107,950t in 2004, with China controlling 91% of the total production. World consumption of rare earth minerals was 90,000t, with supply exceeding demand. The main consumer countries are China, Japan, the United States and so on. It is predicted that the demand for rare earths in electronics, magnets, glass and ceramics, and industries related to consumer electronics will increase in the next few years, with an average annual growth rate of up to 3.2%.
I, reserves and resources
Known rare earth-containing minerals are about 200 kinds of minerals, but has been mined and utilized only about 10 kinds of light rare earth minerals are mainly cerium fluorocarbon, monazite, cerium niobium calcium titanium ore; heavy rare earth minerals are: yttrium phosphates, yttrium brown niobium ore, titanium uraninite and so on. In addition to China, CIS countries, the United States, Australia, India and other places have richer rare earth resources. Since the beginning of 2002, due to China and Brazil published rare earth resources data than in the past there are large changes, resulting in the U.S. Geological Survey estimates of global rare earth reserves from 100 million tons adjusted to 88 million tons, the reserve base is still maintained at 15,000 million tons (Table 1). The world's rare earth resources are abundant and can meet the world's needs in the long term.
Table 1 World rare earth reserves and reserve base in 2005 Unit: 10,000,000t (REO)
Source: Mineral Commodity Summaries, 2006.
Global rare earth metal resources are abundant, but the distribution is uneven and the degree of exploration is generally not high. U.S. and world resources are dominated by cerussite and monazite. Most of the world's economically recoverable rare earth resources are concentrated in China and the United States cerium ore; monazite ore is mainly distributed in Australia, Brazil, China, India, Malaysia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Thailand and the United States. Rare earth resources also include apatite, thorium-rich monazite, anisotropy, secondary monazite, cerium-niobium-calcite, phosphorite, clay ores containing adsorbed ionic rare earths, and yttrium phosphorite. The resource potential of rare earths is huge and will be sufficient to meet the demand in the future.
Two, production
Before 1960, Brazil, India, Malaysia, Australia have been in the production of raw materials of rare earths, each leading, to the mid-1960s, the United States in the production of rare earths on the dominant position. From the 80's China gradually entered the international rare earth market, after 1986 China has maintained an absolute leading position in the production of rare earths. At present, the main countries in the world that carry out mining and beneficiation production are China, the United States, Russia, Kyrgyzstan, India, Brazil, Malaysia and so on. And France in the production of high-purity single rare earths, Japan in the production of rare earth deep-processing products are in the world's leading position. 2004 in China's production increased under the pull of the world rare earth oxide mine production increased by 1050t, an increase of 1.0% (Table 2).
Table 2 World rare earth production Unit: t
Note: NA indicates missing data.
Source: U.S. Geological Survey, Minerals Yearbook, 2001-2004.
China's rare earth producers are located in eight provinces (regions), including Inner Mongolia, Jiangxi, and Sichuan, with an annual production capacity of 110,000 t. Smelting, processing, and handling capacity has reached 140,000~150,000 t/year. The production capacity exceeds the total world demand. Therefore, the next 10 to 15 years, in principle, the state will not approve the construction of new rare earth metallurgical projects, mineral production is controlled at the level of 90,000t. The focus is to strengthen the development of new rare earth materials and applied research.
The U.S. molybdenum company is a long-term rare earth production enterprises, but has reduced production. The company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the U.S. Unocal (Unocal) Corporation, which mainly produces rare-earth concentrates and single rare-earth high-purity products, with a designed production capacity of 20,000t/year (REO), and the actual annual output is currently about 5,000t.
In India, there are two major rare-earth producers, namely, the Indian Rare Earths Corporation (IRE) and Kerala Minerals and Metals Corporation (KMML). IRE operates three monazite heavy sand mines located in the Chavana coast of Kerala, Manavalakurichi, Tamil Nadu, and Orissa, with thorium chlorides and hydroxides as the main products.KMML also has a monazite heavy sand mine in the Chavana coast of Kerala, which contains an average of 57.5% rare earth oxides, thorium oxide 7.96% and phosphate 28.2%. The estimated resources are ilmenite 24,000 Mt, rutile 20 Mt, zircon 50 Mt, sillimanite 60 Mt and monazite 4 Mt. Currently, the company is constructing a new sorting plant, which will give the company a production capacity of ilmenite of up to 3 Mt/year upon completion.
In Australia, Lynas (Lynas) company in Western Australia's Mt. Weld mine development of rare earth project is about to be completed. in December 2002 with the extracted ore samples for flotation trial production. Commercial construction is planned to start in June-July 2003, and production will begin in March 2004, with the production of rare earth carbonate (concentrated raw material) entrusted to a Chinese separation plant for processing. Weld Hill Mine is a ****-generating mine of rare earths, tantalum, niobium and phosphate, discovered in 1980, with a mineable capacity of 7.7 million tons of rare earth ores at a grade of 12% (917,000 tons, REO) and a content of radioactive substances (0.0654% ThO2, 0.0039% U3O8) less than 1% of that of the Baiyun'ebao Mine in China.2002 Linus acquired a 100% interest in the mine in 2002.
In Estonia, Silmet has been separating rare-earth minerals at the Sillam?e treatment plant since 1969, specializing in cerium-niobium-calcium-titanium concentrates, with more than half of the raw materials supplied by Russia's Rauvoyusky plant. 1992 saw a switch to anhydrous rare-earth chlorides and carbons from Russia's Soligamsky magnesium plant, which also imported raw materials from China. 1999 saw the company switch to anhydrous rare-earth chlorides and carbons from Russia's Soryumky Magnesium Plant, which also imported materials from China. In 1999, the company established a joint venture with the Russian Soligamsky Magnesium Plant and Soworyd Metal Plant, which increased the processing capacity of cerium-niobium-calcium-titanium concentrates by 30-40% to 12,000t/year, and the REO production increased from 2,400t/year to 3,000t/year. Selmet also has a rare earth metals production plant with a capacity of 700t/year and an alloy smelter in the Gulf of Finland in northeastern Estonia.
In France, Rhodia electronic and catalyst materials group enterprise is the production of rare earth downstream products of large multinational companies, in fact, has been upgraded to the global competent rare earth new materials company. Currently has invested in 15 joint ventures in China, built 8 research laboratories in Shanghai, the company is headquartered in the west of France, the small seaside town of La Rochelle (La Rochelle) city. 2002 the company announced that it has developed a new generation of catalysts for diesel cars Eolys, this rare earth products can remove more than 90% of diesel or even 99% of the particles of the emissions, and currently It is now used in Peugeot and Citroen cars.
Three, use and consumption
The current consumption of rare earths are mainly in the following areas: catalytic (petrochemical, automotive exhaust purification), metallurgy, glass ceramics, permanent magnets, phosphors, nickel/metal hydride batteries and other new materials. The main consumer countries or regions are China, the United States, Western Europe, Japan. since the 1990s, with the growth of demand for automobiles, computers, consumer electronics and mobile electronic devices, so that the application of rare earths, especially in automotive exhaust catalysts, permanent magnets and rechargeable batteries continue to increase. 2004 world rare earth oxides total consumption of 90,000t, an increase of 2.4% (Table 3).
Table 3 U.S., China, the world rare earth consumption Unit: t (REO)
Note: 1992-2004 U.S. consumption data quoted from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management Minerals Commodity Summaries of the relevant years of the statistics. 1992-2002 China's consumption quoted in China Mineral Resources Annual Report 2003, 2004 consumption quoted in China Rare Earths Annual Report 2003, and 2004 consumption quoted in China Rare Earths Annual Report 2003, and 2004 consumption quoted in China Rare Earths Annual Report 2003. China's consumption from 1992 to 2002 is quoted from China Mineral Resources Yearbook 2003, and consumption in 2004 is quoted from China Rare Earths Online. World consumption is based on the literature of Judith Chegwidden, Yao Yu, Lin Chenghe, etc. and China Rare Earths Online, etc. NA is not available.
China's rare earth consumption has exceeded that of the U.S. since 1998, and has always ranked first in the world. 2004 China's consumption of rare earth products amounted to 29,600t, an increase of 0.3% year-on-year, and accounted for 32.9% of the world's total consumption. Among them, the amount of high-tech materials for 10610t, accounting for 35.8% of the country's total consumption; metallurgy and machinery 5400t, accounting for 18.2%; petroleum and chemical 4450t, accounting for 15.0%; agriculture, light industry and textile 3090t, accounting for 10.4%; glass and ceramics 6050t, accounting for 20.6%.
Japan is the world's highest level of rare earth research and development countries, its rare earth applications are mainly concentrated in permanent magnets, phosphors, nickel-metal hydride batteries, polishing powder and anti-ultraviolet radiation glass and other high-tech industries. According to the visual consumption statistics, the United States in 2004 visual consumption of 16400t, an increase of 16.2%, ranking third in the world. Europe's annual consumption of rare earths about 10,000t, the main areas of consumption are automobile exhaust purification catalysts and glass polishing powder.
Four, trade and market
The world rare earth trade is mainly in the rare earth resources of the richer countries and economically developed countries.
China has maintained a special position as a rare earth exporter since 1998, not only as the world's first big exporter of rare earths, but also as a big exporter of high-purity, high value-added products. In the world rare earth market, China is the only country that can supply large quantities of different grades and varieties of rare earth products. China's rare earth product exports mainly to Japan, the United States, France, the Netherlands, Italy and South Korea and other more than 40 countries and regions.
The U.S. imports rare earths from China, France, India and other countries on the one hand, on the other hand, exported rare earth products to more than 30 countries and regions of the world. 2004 U.S. imports of rare earth products amounted to 23,500t, a year-on-year increase of 41.0%. Exports were 12,100t, up 60.2% year-on-year, mainly because of Canada, Estonia, Germany and Japan's imports caused by a large increase. U.S. imports of rare earth metals and compounds are mainly from China, France, Japan and Russia.
Japan has no rare earth resources, need to use the import of rare earth materials to develop its rare earth industry. 2004 rare earth product output of 6015t, imports of 26,762t, an increase of 4.1%, of which rare earth compounds and rare earth metal imports and yttrium imports increased and decreased. Imports from China amounted to 24,174t, accounting for 90.3%. Other sources of imports included the United States, France, India, Estonia, Taiwan, Malaysia, Sweden, Denmark, Austria, Germany and Norway.
Price, from 2000 to 2005, the price of China's rare earth products continued to fall, and the rare earth market is still in the trough period. Among them, the price of samarium metal, Sm≥99%, remained unchanged at RMB 100-140/kg in 2005; cerium metal, Ce≥99%, RMB 35-40/kg, down 11% year-on-year; lanthanum oxide, La2O3≥99%, RMB 12-26/kg, down 20.0% year-on-year; europium oxide (Eu2O3≥99%), RMB 1,800-2,200/kg , down 21.4% year-on-year; only neodymium metal, Nd ≥ 99%, the price rose to RMB 95 to 105/kg, up 31.9% year-on-year. The main reason is the surplus of rare earth products, the manufacturers cut prices to compete for sales.
The U.S. domestic market prices are relatively stable, 2003 to 2004, little change. 2004 cerium fluorocarbon concentrate price of $5.51/kg, remained unchanged, monazite concentrate price remained $0.73/kg. while the import price decline in the products are: rare earth metals, from $6.97/kg to $5.22/kg. the import price increase in the products are cerium compounds (excluding cerium chloride), from $4.15/kg to $4.67/kg; chlorinated rare earths, the average import price rose from $1.50/kg in 2003 to $2.41/kg. other products in 2004, the import price is basically the same as in 2003.
Rhodia's rare earth oxides ex-factory prices were also relatively stable, and remained basically unchanged in 2004 compared with 2003 (Table 4).
Table 4 Rare earth oxides ex-factory price of Rhodia in 2004 Unit: USD/kg
Source: Minerals Yearbook, 2004.
V. Outlook
In recent years, rare earth products have been in a situation of supply exceeding demand, and there was also a price war in the second half of 2001, which not only Resulted in the price of certain products fell more than 40%, but also to the product of the profit margin has caused great pressure, forcing many poor efficiency of the enterprise bankruptcy, even if the existing enterprise most of its operation in the very low profit, in 2003, although the consumption of rare earths growth, but the production is still too much, resulting in the price continues to be low.
According to an analysis by Business Wire, it appears that the situation reached its lowest point in 2003, and a reversal of the situation is expected. Applications for rare earths, particularly in automotive exhaust catalysts, permanent magnets and rechargeable batteries, will continue to grow, especially as demand for automobiles, computers, consumer electronics and mobile electronics grows. Demand for neodymium and cerium, which are used in permanent magnets and automotive exhaust catalysts, will increase by a large margin in the coming years, as will demand for rare earths in Ni-MH batteries, medical devices, sensors, and dental and surgical lasers. Magnetic refrigeration will be commercialized. Erbium-doped optical fiber will enter a new round of demand.
So, the U.S. business communications company predicted that the next few years, the global demand for rare earths will be an average annual growth rate of 3.2 percent, by 2007 will reach 90,000 ~ 100,000 t. By then, the world's rare earth production value will reach 2 billion U.S. dollars. Industries with strong growth include electronics, permanent magnets, glass and ceramics, and industries related to consumer electronics.
Key References
[1]Rogers Euis.Rare Earths.Mining Communications Ltd, Mining Annual Review, 2005
[2]Rare Earths Information, No. 1 to No. 3, 2005
[ 3]Rare Earth Information, No.1～No.3, 2006
[4]Closing of the 2nd International Rare Earth Conference in Hong Kong - China's Rare Earth Development Momentum is Strong. China Rare Earths Online:/aboutus/meeting/0328b.htm