Recently, rare earth resources have become an international hot topic. What is rare earth? Why have rare earths become a key factor in Sino-US trade? Why do we mention rare earth resources when we talk about cars? You wouldn’t believe it, rare earths are indeed the top priority in the current trade competition between China and the United States, and they are also closely related to our automotive industry.

Rare earths are not “rare”, but their purification is a difficult problem

Rare earths do not refer to “rare resources” in the literal sense, but are a general term for 17 metal elements in the periodic table of chemical elements, including the lanthanide series, scandium and yttrium. From the perspective of crustal distribution, its reserves far exceed those of metals such as copper and cobalt – most soils and rocks around the world contain rare earths, and even their traces can be found in ordinary surface soils. That is to say, there are rare earths in the soil in your backyard. But the concentration of rare earths in the soil in your backyard is too low. It can’t extract those dozen or so elements. You have to find a rare earth mine with a higher concentration to mine. Moreover, “Rare earths are not rare, and purification is a difficult problem.” In nature, rare earths mostly exist in the form of associated minerals, and the concentrations of various elements in a single mining area vary greatly, which sets a technical threshold for subsequent separation and refinement.