New Rare Earth Find Sparks Excitement in Baotou, China

Scientists discovered a new rare earth material in Baotou, the largest industrial city in the south-central part of China’s Inner Mongolia.

According to local foreign reports such as China Daily, on the 16th, a research team from China University of Geosciences discovered a new rare earth material, Bayanoboite-Y, in the Bayan Obo mine in Baotou.

The research team from China University of Geosciences announced this content at a recent seminar and received approval from the International Mineralogical Association for the name of this mineral.

The newly discovered rare earth contains yttrium, dysprosium, gadolinium, and erbium. However, they did not disclose the specific elemental composition and content.

The research team said, “This is a groundbreaking discovery,” and “It will provide a clue to reveal the distribution and abundance of medium rare earth elements in the Bayan Obo mine.”

Bayan Obo, located northwest of Baotou in Inner Mongolia, accounts for about 80% of China’s rare earth reserves and about 38% of the world’s rare earth reserves. Rare earth is 17 rare minerals, including 15 elements of the lanthanum family, such as lanthanum, lutetium, scandium, and yttrium.

The Inner Mongolia Department of Industrial Informatics had previously announced that it would increase the scale of rare earth production by five times by 2025. Accordingly, there is a plan to increase the value of rare earth production in Baotou to 100 billion yuan.

By. Seonghwan Hong