Not selling cabbage for a price! China launches a "rare earth defense war", and the United States is anxious: technology should not have borders

How ironic is it to guard the golden bowl of rare earths and only beg for foodAs the country with the world's largest rare earth reserves, China has long lacked purification technology and can only export primary mineral soil at a "cabbage price", and then spend real gold and silver to buy back rare earth products,It is jokingly referred to by foreign media as "holding a golden rice bowl to beg for food".However, benevolence and righteousness are not applied, and there is a mutual exchange of attack and defense

How ironic is it to guard the golden bowl of rare earths and only beg for food

As the country with the world's largest rare earth reserves, China has long lacked purification technology and can only export primary mineral soil at a "cabbage price", and then spend real gold and silver to buy back rare earth products,It is jokingly referred to by foreign media as "holding a golden rice bowl to beg for food".

However, benevolence and righteousness are not applied, and there is a mutual exchange of attack and defense.China has reached the top of rare earth purification technology in the world in just 10 yearsThe United States, which used to be a powerful country, has become the world's largest exporter of cheap raw materials. According to customs statistics, from January to May this year, China imported approximately 73000 tons of low-grade rare earth ore from the United States at a low price. Japanese media satirized that China had "found a big bargain".

Seeing the situation take a sharp turn for the worse, several American media outlets quickly spoke out: for example, FOXNews constantly shouted "China controls the lifeline of rare earths", and many American media outlets directly issued warnings:If the global rare earth industry cannot be controlled, its domestic and domestic security will be at risk

01. Domestically produced technology, US rare earth monopoly dream shattered?

The so-called "rare earth" is actually the general name of Lanthanide, scandium and yttrium, a total of 17 metal elements. As raw materials in military industry, high-tech electronics and other fields, it is an important strategic resource that is being scrambled by various major countries.It is also China's "ace" in global industry.

According to the statistics of the U.S. Bureau of Geological Statistics, China's Proven reserves of rare earths rank first in the world, accounting for about 35% of the world's total rare earths,. Unfortunately, for a long time,90% of the world's rare earth products are exported by the United States, while China can only export raw materials at low prices, witnessing huge profits being made by the United States.

The current situation of "begging for food with a golden rice bowl" deeply hurts the hearts of Chinese people. In order to overcome the problem of rare earth extraction, under the leadership of Xu Guangxian, the "father of rare earth", hundreds of scientific researchers have finally developed the "reflux cascade extraction method" for three years, which not only innovatively raised the purity of rare earth extraction to 99.99%, but also brought a mature industrial chain to China.Chinese people are overjoyed: finally, wait for this day!

In fact, relying on technological breakthroughs to break Western monopolies is no longer new:The imported shield tunneling machine, which was once priced at 700 million yuan, has now dropped to 25 million yuan in the domestic version, and the situation of being "stuck" by the West no longer exists.

Nowadays, with the improvement of domestic technology, the total number of patents in the field of rare earth extraction in China even exceeds the sum of other countries. Nowadays, China has become the world's largest supplier of rare earth products with a total number of 23000 rare earth patents, and has also taken over 80% of the global rare earth supply market.

02. Seizing the market, rare earths should not be sold at the price of "gold selling cabbage"

Although the technical Hard power has been available, for a long time, domestic rare earths can only be sold at extremely low prices. Taking rare earth raw materials as an example, in 2010, the global price per ton was even less than 10000 yuan, and the price per kilogram was even less than 5 yuan.

Someone joked thatWith the heart of selling rare earths, he earns money from selling cabbage.The reason is that not only foreign giants cooperate to "suppress", but also domestic enterprises fall into the situation of "Cut throat competition".

Fortunately, the national level quickly took action. Around 2015, China introduced policies requiring unified management of major mining areas and the use of restricted mining methods,Strictly Control the Quantity of Rare Earth Exports to Foreign Countries. From then on, domestic rare earths will no longer be sold at the price of "gold selling cabbage" in the international market.

According to media reports, in the past 10 years, China's rare earth export prices have skyrocketed. Even the Mountain Pass mine, which once accounted for 90% of global exports, has been acquired by China. Nowadays, China holds a mature rare earth industry chain and is importing rare earths at low prices from abroad,After processing, it can be exported to the world at a high price.

Perhaps inspired by this, China is also making efforts to explore high-end fields such as industrial machinery and biological manufacturing. Taking domestic shield tunneling machines as an example, domestic products are now impacting the international market with high technological content, capturing 50% of the global market share,Force the US and European countries to reduce prices by one-third in order to survive.

03. With the "ace" in hand, the rise of domestic production is unstoppable

Nowadays, domestic rare earths are accelerating their export. From exporting raw materials in the past to exporting high value-added equipment now, the awkward situation where rare earths can only be sold for "gold at the price of cabbage" no longer exists.

At present, China's rare earth smelting technology is at the international leading level, and foreign media have no choice but to expressRare earth raw ore can only be sent to China for extraction

In the future, with continuous technological breakthroughs, the era of high dependence on imports will eventually become a thing of the past.Rare earths are just the beginning, and China's "ace cards" in the industrial field are bound to increase.

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