The reporter visits the world's largest rare earth mine in Mengang's heavily guarded mineralization zone with cameras all over it

Baiyun Obo mining area

There is a trench two meters deep outside the Baiyun Obo Iron Mine

  Baiyun Obo means "rich mountain" in Mongolian. It contains the world's largest rare earth mine and is also China's strategic resource secrecy unit. Everyone who enters the mine must undergo strict inspections, and photography and video recording are prohibited.

  According to Xinhua Daily Telegraph, the rare earth in Baiyun Obo, Baotou City, still has chaos such as private digging and illegal mining and smuggling of "black mines", and the pricing power is not in his own hands.

In addition, foreign buyers deliberately lowered prices, and they have been selling them at "cabbage" prices for decades.

  On October 14, a reporter from Chengdu Commercial Daily-Red Star News came to visit the Baiyun Obo mining area and found that the gate here is heavily guarded and cannot enter without a key card or advance appointment.

A worker told reporters that there are cameras and patrol vehicles inside the mining area. In recent years, there has been no rare earth smuggling phenomenon. However, on the hill five or six kilometers away from the mining area, there were still nearby villagers or small manufacturers who were doing privately before. Mining.

  When talking about rare earth prices, Li Zhenhong, chairman of Baotou Rare Earth Exchange, said that the rare earth stock exchange has not formed a unified national rare earth product trading market and lacks an objective price formation mechanism. Most domestic rare earth transactions are completed through negotiation between the two parties, so " Only they know the actual transaction price." Li Zhenhong called for the national rare earth trading to be done quickly.

Visit

The world's largest rare earth mine

No entry without permission

  The Baiyun Obo mining area has the world's largest recoverable reserves and production of rare earths, and the rare earth reserves account for about half of the global rare earth production.

  The entire Baiyun Obo mining area covers an area of ​​328.64 square kilometers and governs two sub-district offices and four communities.

The total population of 27,600 people, of which 22,100 Baiyun Iron Mine employees and their families, more than 80% of the population of the mining area.

The “Baiyun Obo Iron Mine” first permitted by the local government and the “Barun Mining Area” newly developed in recent years are distributed in the mining area. They are all confidential units. Therefore, photography and video recording are prohibited in mining and processing areas without permission. Not to enter casually.

  It is understood that more than ten years ago, the property rights of mining areas were unclear, and unauthorized mining and indiscriminate mining were more serious.

During the special rectification around 2010, the surrounding 48 kilometers were protected by the mineralization zone.

At present, Baotou Iron and Steel (Group) Company has the exclusive mining rights of Baiyun Obo mining area.

  The reporter found at the scene that the outer walls of the two mining areas under Baotou Iron & Steel had a trench of more than ten kilometers and a width of about 2 meters to prevent privately digging and indiscriminate vehicles from entering the mining area. At the same time, there is a gate outside the mining area. Outsiders enter.

However, in the trench three to four hundred meters next to the gate of the Baiyun Obo Iron Mine, the reporter saw that there was a two-meter-wide sidewalk that could be entered directly.

Similarly, about 500 meters west of Mengang in Barun mining area, there is also an access road directly to the comprehensive office building of the mining area.

  In this regard, the staff of the Baiyun Obo mining area government told reporters: "Even if we go in, we have to approve layer by layer, one person, one card, one car, one photo, directly from Baotou's own security department, sent from the city, and their security teams are also rotated. "

  In the fence around the mining area around Mengang, the reporter found no traces of private digging.

According to a worker, private cars are not allowed to enter the premises, nor can they enter without an employee card, but they don’t stop by wearing work attire and following these paths.

  A service provider in the Barun mining area revealed that the phenomenon of illegal mining and tailings being stolen around the plant more than ten years ago has been banned.

The Baiyun Obo Iron Mine and Barun Mine send the ore to the concentrator to extract rare earth and iron ore, respectively, while the surrounding small concentrators help Baotou Iron & Steel's beneficiation and processing fees for a long time.

Nowadays, two-meter-deep trenches have been dug dozens of kilometers around the mine and monitored by cameras, so there has been no incident of rare earth smuggling within the mining area.

  It is understood that the rare earth pipeline transportation uses American technology.

At the same time, some workers said that five or six kilometers northeast of the Barun mining area, there were often local villagers or small companies digging indiscriminately before. "But now rare earths and steel cannot be sold at prices, and there are very few people who excavate. Up."

  A staff member of the Baotou Natural Resources Bureau told the Chengdu Commercial Daily-Red Star News that if you encounter this phenomenon, you can report it to the Land and Resources Bureau and someone will handle it.

The staff member also said, "Private digging and random mining have always existed, and it is not only in Baotou. This kind of city with many mines has such problems in the surrounding area."

industry

Many domestic transactions are negotiated

Only the parties know the actual transaction price

  Rare earth is an important strategic resource, an irreplaceable high-tech and military strategic element, and is called "industrial vitamin".

my country has more than 50% of the world's rare earth resource reserves and occupies 90% of the global market share. It has always been said that "the Middle East has oil and China has rare earths".

  However, China's ability to intervene in rare earth prices is very weak, so that its huge market share advantage cannot be transformed into market power and commodity pricing advantages.

In May 2011, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region approved the establishment of the Baotou Rare Earth Products Exchange (hereinafter referred to as the "Rare Exchange"), which is also the only rare earth product trading venue in my country.

  Li Zhenhong, chairman of the Rare Earth Exchange, said in an interview with a reporter from Chengdu Commercial Daily-Red Star News, "The problem we are currently facing is that there is no unified national rare earth product trading market and there is no objective price formation mechanism. Most domestic rare earth enterprises trade. It is completed through negotiation between the two parties, and only they know the actual transaction price."

  According to the official website of Baotou Rare Exchange, the negotiated market price of rare earth products on October 20 was: lanthanum oxide was quoted at 9400 yuan/ton; cerium oxide was quoted at 0.89 million yuan/ton; praseodymium oxide was quoted at 302,800 yuan/ton; neodymium oxide was quoted at 310,000 yuan/ton.

  The October listing price of Northern Rare Earth is: lanthanum oxide is 10,800 yuan/ton; cerium oxide is 10,800 yuan/ton; praseodymium oxide is 376,000 yuan/ton; neodymium oxide is priced 395,000 yuan/ton.

  It is understood that the original intention of establishing the rare exchange is to control the pricing power.

Li Zhenhong pointed out to reporters that the price of rare earths is determined by the market, which is the core pricing mechanism.

This mechanism is to establish a new set of trading rules or trade rules, and the most fundamental method is to establish a credible international exchange.

  However, the Baotou Stock Exchange currently lacks influence nationwide.

As the only rare earth product exchange in the country, the actual settlement volume of Baotou Rare Exchange in 2019 was only 1.33 billion yuan, and the settlement volume was only 3386 tons.

Since its establishment, Baotou Rare Exchange has accumulated more than 8423 tons of settlement volume, but there are still a large number of rare earth transactions in the market that belong to traditional barter.

  In addition, Li Zhenhong said that in addition to the immature trading mechanism, there are also factors such as low platform level, front-end production quota system and back-end trading marketization.

In addition, several major trading platforms such as the Baotou Rare Exchange are all provincial-level trading platforms, and it is difficult for them to serve the rare earth industry.

"We are striving to upgrade the Baotou Stock Exchange to a national platform."

Supervision

48 kilometers of mineralization belt security camera

Private digging will be stopped and punished

  Regarding the chaos of private digging and illegal mining and smuggling of "black mines" in the Baiyun Obo mining area, many supervisory departments in Baotou City responded.

  The staff of the Baotou City Land and Resources Bureau told the Chengdu Commercial Daily-Red Star News that if the miners did not obtain the mining license, they would issue a notice of production suspension, and stop and punish them.

"If the mining volume is large, those that meet the criminal standards will be transferred to the public security organs for processing."

  Regarding the standard of punishment, the staff member stated that the first is to confiscate the illegal gains, how much money is mined to make up for the country, and then a certain percentage of punitive fines. "Our law enforcement is not as compulsory as the public security. Stop it on the spot."

  It is understood that during the special rectification of rare earths in 2010, 48 kilometers of the surrounding area were protected by mineralized belts, and cameras were installed on the edge of the net fence.

Since 2012, law enforcement officers have not found any illegal mining incidents.

However, the supervisor added, “During our law enforcement and patrols, we don’t worry about mining because there are no magnetite and rare earth mines in the periphery. If there is illegal mining, it may be in Damao Banner outside Baiyun District. The place is very close."

  At the same time, the relevant person in charge of the Baiyun Obo mining area government said that the entire monitoring network is now very complete, even if the tailings are not dared to waste, all that is not needed is stored.

The person in charge said that when the fourth Baiyun Obo resource strategy seminar was held in mid-September, experts visited the Baiyun Obo mining area and believed that it was imperative to find out the resources of Baiyun Obo. Accurate data on the reserves of niobium resources, and call for attention to the development and utilization of Baiyun Obo resources.

  The Chengdu Commercial Daily-Red Star News reporter noted that as of March 31, 2020, the number of enterprises marked on the "Electronic Map of China's Rare Earth Industry" exceeded 2,000.

The direct consequence of the excessively low industrial concentration is that key enterprises do not have strong control over the industry as a whole, and cannot exert influence on international commodity pricing with one voice.

  Zhang Xiao, an associate professor at the School of International Economics and Trade of Henan University of Economics and Law, suggested that the government should play a role in macro-control, increase industry integration, and improve technological innovation.

And as soon as possible to form an international rare earth pricing center, establish a sound rare earth reserve system, and promote fair trade and international exchanges.

  Chengdu Commercial Daily-Red Star News reporter Wu Danruo, Zhao Minyu and Lu Yanfei from Baotou, Inner Mongolia