China would like to work with Japan to research on rare earth alternatives, said Chen Deming, the commerce minister, at a press conference in Beijing.
Rear earths resources under earth are very limited, and they will soon be used up under current rate of exploration, he said. “We have to look for recycling methods and alternative resources. We would like to work together with other countries,” Chen said.
China has decided to restrict both the exports and domestic use of rare earth due to environmental concerns, he said.
Chen said the rare earths resources in the country is mainly in the least developed regions. Its technology in exploring and processing rare earth is not advanced enough, leading to bad impact to the environment.
Chen said he lived in Jiangxi, a province with rich rare earths reserves, for more than 10 years, and he noticed the damage to the environment himself. “Large area of land cannot be recovered after rare earths exploration, and that influenced the ecology greatly,” he said.
The transcribe of the press conference is here: 陈德铭两会http://www.gov.cn/2011lh/zhibo/20110307a.htm
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