A deposit containing approximately 1.15 million tons of rare earth minerals has been discovered in Yunnan Province, southern China.
According to state-run Xinhua News Agency on the 18th, the Ministry of Natural Resources Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources of China announced that on the 16th, a large ion-adsorbed rare earth mineral deposit with potential reserves of 1.15 million tons was found in the Honghe area of Yunnan Province.
The Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources explained that among the buried resources, over 470,000 tons of major rare earth elements, including neodymium, a key material for permanent magnets, as well as praseodymium, dysprosium, and terbium, are included.
The Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources noted that this newly discovered deposit represents "another significant breakthrough" since the first discovery of an ion-adsorbed rare earth mine in Jiangxi Province in 1969, adding that it is expected to become the largest rare earth mine in China, thereby solidifying China's strategic advantage in the heavy rare earth resource sector by completing the rare earth industrial chain.
Ion-adsorbed deposits are formed when rare earth elements are adsorbed onto clay minerals due to weathering, making them easier to mine and extract compared to rare earth minerals in ore form. These ion-adsorbed deposits are primarily known to be distributed in southern China.