Rare metal is also regarded as a strategic metal, is an important guarantee for safeguarding the fundamental interests of the country, the national economic security, the process of industrialization and international competitiveness and so on has a very important strategic significance. As the world has important strategic value of rare metal mineral distribution is extremely uneven, easy to develop and use of the advantages of resources concentrated in a small number of countries and regions. Distribution of resources is not balanced, so that tungsten, tantalum, beryllium, indium and other rare metals, as well as rare earth metals, platinum group's strategic position has become more prominent, and become an important field of international resource competition.
1 to increase the urgency of strategic metal mineral resources into the national strategy
Strategic rare metals have obvious scarcity, not alternative, is an important functional material for supporting the development of strategic emerging industries, with the innovation of modern science and technology, market demand for the various functions of metallic materials was rising trend. Especially in the process of technological innovation, some of the original is considered to be very limited use of metals, because of a major breakthrough in technology, and has a very important strategic value.
On the one hand, high-end manufacturing and emerging industries, especially frontier science and technology industry development, atomic energy, aerospace, semiconductor, special steel, heat-resistant alloy and sophisticated weapons such as many related to people's livelihood and national security required raw materials. With the arrival of the industrial age of 4, the core components of intelligent robots, high-end chips and other industries will accelerate the development. The development of these industries can not be separated from rare metals, such as gallium, indium phosphate is an important raw material for the production of high-end chips. Large metal materials in the high-end manufacturing 3D printing, whether it is the 3D printer itself or the printed metal devices, can not be separated from all kinds of excellent mechanical properties of rare metal tungsten, titanium, vanadium and other materials.
On the other hand, in recent years, the rapid growth in demand for strategic metals, as a key element in the high-tech industry, the current number of strategic metal resources is still difficult to replace. Global technology is relatively developed in the United States, Japan and the European Union and other economies on the demand for metal minerals showing a rigid feature. Related research shows that in 2030 the emerging field of gallium, indium and other emerging mineral demand will rise 2-20 times higher than in 2006, the future of global demand for strategic metals will continue to rise.
2 countries in the world to step up the strategic layout of the metal mineral resources
For a long time, in the United States, Japan, Canada, as a representative of the western developed countries, has been the implementation of the global resource strategy as an important part of the overall national strategy, and the country's political, economic, diplomatic, military, and financial policy combination, and with the change of the shape of the potential timely adjustment to ensure national economic security.
The United States as the world's first formal establishment of the national strategic resource reserves of the country. As early as 1939, the United States began to implement key mineral reserves, the development of the strategic material reserve act on the domestic oil, coal, rare earth, etc., only to explore not mining, reserve long-term purchase from abroad. By 1985 the strategic resources of the reserves reached 93 categories of 63 kinds, including oil, uranium, aluminum, antimony, chromium, gold and other important mineral. With its powerful military and economic power, the United States has established a global multi level, multi channel strategic resources of the global allocation of security system and a huge strategic resource reserve system. With the domestic and foreign resources and supply and demand situation changes, and constantly increase the resources of the reserve varieties, and meet the machine to buy a large number of cheap global strategic resources. Japan as a mineral resource is very barren island, by actively pursuing overseas mineral exploration subsidy program, encourage overseas mining, access to the global strategy of mineral resources.
Since entering the new century, the pattern of the world happened great changes. Under the trend of globalization, resource competition is becoming increasingly fierce, the development of uncertainty and resource products of Pan gold melting trend has become increasingly evident, resource nationalism prevails, the developed countries began to reaffirm the necessity of strategic reserve. In recent years, major countries in the world is the strategic metal of the development, utilization and protection of up to extremely important strategic height, United States, the European Union, Japan, South Korea, the United Nations Environment Programme and other countries or international organizations formulated strategic mineral resources directory listing.
In July 2009, the Japanese government proposed the rare metal security strategy of rare metals are defined as "Earth on the stock of scarce, due to technological and economic factors is difficult to extract, modern industry and future along with the necessary for technological revolution by the formation of the new industrial metal." And put forward 31 kinds of minerals (including 47 elements) as a priority mineral. June 2010 "the raw material of life and death in the EU" report, the 14 kinds of major metallic minerals identified includes 35 elements for the "Guan Jianyuan materials" (). In December 2011, the United States Department of energy introduced the "2011 key materials strategy", proposed 14 kinds of metals as the key mineral resources, countries of strategic metal resources competition and competition is very fierce.
3 strategic metals mining of the country's growing game
From the perspective of the distribution and competition pattern of the strategic metal mineral resources, the key metals determined by the European Union, the United States, the United Kingdom and other developed economies, there are many advantages of mineral resources in our country. According to the U. S. geological survey of mineral resources in rating statistics, China's output of antimony accounted for 90% of the global total output, gallium production accounted for 60%, germanium production accounted for 68%, graphite production accounted for 65%, indium production accounted for 56%, magnesium production accounts for 70%, manganese production accounted for 86%, tungsten production accounted for 86%. Visible, there are nearly half of the mineral resources for China's advantage. These minerals play an important role in the development of strategic emerging industries.