New SOE China Rare Earth Group Established to Strengthen Dominance of Industry
China Rare Earth Group Co., Ltd., a state-owned enterprise (SOE), was established on Thursday in eastern China’s Jiangxi Province. The newly launched company will operate under the direct authority of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council.
The group will focus on scientific research and development, exploration, separation and smelting, deep processing, downstream application, industrial incubation, technical consulting and the trade of rare earth minerals.
The group was jointly founded by three companies – Aluminum Corporation of China, China Minmetals Corporation and Ganzhou Rare Earth Group Co Ltd – as well as two research firms – China Iron & Steel Research Institute Group and Grinm Group Corporation Ltd.
The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission will hold a 31.21% stake in the new group, while Chinalco, China Minmetals and Ganzhou Rare Earth Group will each own 20.33%. The other two research firms hold 3.9%, respectively.
China is the country with the richest reserves of rare mineral resources in the world. Ganzhou, Jiangxi Province is known as the “Rare Earth Kingdom” and “Tungsten Capital of the World.” 70% of the medium and heavy rare earth and 60% of wolframite in the world are produced here every year. A complete industrial chain from geological exploration, mining, processing, product application to inspection, and design has been formed here.
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The country’s dominance of the sector has been an increasing concern. This move aims to better allocate resources, realize green development and upgrade deep-processing of the rare-earth sector. The intensive development of rare earth enterprises is conducive to the systematic and in-depth study of rare earth, to enhance the added value of rare earth products. It is also important to solve the problems that restrict the high-quality development of rare earth enterprises, such as the imbalance of rare earth industrial chain structure, the serious lag of rare earth deep processing, and the application and promotion of new technologies.
