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Chao Kong

China plans to expand production capacity of a mine in Bayan Obo in its Inner Mongolia region with an investment of over half a billion yuan (US$74 million).
The expansion will raise the mine’s annual output by 50 per cent from 10 million to 15 million tonnes at the world’s largest rare earth deposit.
Bayan Obo is a complex polymetallic deposit containing iron, rare earths, fluorite, niobium, scandium and thorium.
The project is mainly aimed at increasing iron ore output while rare earths would come as a by-product, according to Baogang Group, the operator.
The expansion highlights the gap between geological potential and actual production. It will increase mining capacity at one of China’s most important iron mines while leaving its rare earth production policy unchanged.
“Rare earth production is subject to quotas, so there is no need to mine more ore,” Li Yang, a top geologist at Peking University, said in an interview.
“The main purpose is to mine iron, while fluorite is recovered along the way.”


The wider Bayan Obo mining area contains about 600 million tonnes of iron ore with an average total iron grade of 35 per cent, according to project documents.
The grade is lower than major Australian iron ore deposits, which typically have grades of around 60 per cent.
However, Bayan Obo remains one of China’s most important strategic mineral resources.
“Bayan Obo’s rare earth resources have been the dominant source of global rare earth production since the 1990s,” Li said.
Approved by Baogang Group’s board in April, the project will expand the existing open-pit operation.
Baogang Group, the state-owned enterprise operating the Bayan Obo mine, plans to raise western pit capacity from 10 million to 13.5 million tonnes a year.
A new eastern pit will add another 1.5 million tonnes, bringing total annual capacity to 15 million tonnes.

The company will upgrade mining, stripping and transport systems.
It will also expand waste-rock storage areas and install intelligent mining equipment, including 5G-based vehicle dispatch and slope monitoring systems.
The project remains in the feasibility study stage and needs further environmental assessments and construction.
Rare earth elements are essential for electric vehicles, wind turbines, advanced electronics and defence technologies.
Demand for these minerals has pushed the United States, Japan and Europe to seek alternative supply sources outside China.
Weeks earlier, Li and his team reported that Bayan Obo’s underground rare earth resources could be several times larger than the current estimate of 100 million tonnes of reserves.
But larger geological resources do not automatically translate into higher rare earth production.
Mining costs, technical challenges and China’s quota-based management system continue to limit output.


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Chinese mining company to invest US$74 million in Bayan Obo in Inner Mongolia, expanding its output from 10 million to 15 million tonnes


Chinese mining company to invest US$74 million in Bayan Obo in Inner Mongolia, expanding its output from 10 million to 15 million tonnes.


Australia

Peking University

China plans to increase mine output in world’s largest rare earth deposit by 50%

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Chinese mining company to invest US$74 million in Bayan Obo in Inner Mongolia, expanding its output from 10 million to 15 million tonnes

Chinese mining company to invest US$74 million in Bayan Obo in Inner Mongolia, expanding its output from 10 million to 15 million tonnes