Inner Mongolia to optimize rare earth standards system

(chinadaily.com.cn)

Updated: 2014-08-11

North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region plans to optimize the industrial standards system of rare earth minerals and map out key technical standards in the field in three years, according to the Inner Mongolia Quality and Technology Supervision Bureau on August 7.

Due to the incomplete industrial standards, the region's advantages in rare earth are not being well utilized currently, said by Xie Shaoqing, deputy head of the region’s quality and technology supervision bureau. The region seeks to optimize the standards system and put the advantages into full play.

According to the newly released plan, a three-year action plan on promoting standardization during 2014 to 2016, Inner Mongolia plans to perfect the rare earth standards system at the end of 2015, then formulate 14 key technical standards for the high added-value production, including rare-earth steel and aluminum magnesium alloy.

Meanwhile, the plan plans to speed up the making of standards related to rare earth ore dressing, smelting, separation and deep processing, and try to help these standards upgrade into national and international standards.

The rare earth is recognized as "the mother of new materials" for it's a rare strategic material. China has been meeting more than 90 percent of the global demands for rare earth products, while Inner Mongolia is the largest rare earth production hub. Its rare earth minerals account for 87 percent of China's total reserve.

Statistics from Inner Mongolia's commerce department showed that Inner Mongolia has exported rare earth minerals totaling 1,951.4 tons in this first half year, up 0.5 percent comparing to the same time in 2013. The exported rare earth value reached 95.71 million yuan ($15.55 million) in this half, a drop of 37.1 percent year-on-year, and accounted for 7.6 percent of China's total rare earth export value.

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