And the simple reason why China dominates rare earth refining: it is big enough to store all the toxic byproducts. The world's largest REE mine, Bayan-Obo has produced over 70,000 tons of radioactive thorium stored in the area. But, the tailing pond lacks proper lining. As a… pic.twitter.com/MnhBPTKm73
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) November 4, 2025
https://twitter.com/remedyrac/status/1985594742378258646
https://twitter.com/remedyrac/status/1985589434956263488
China has paid a high price for dominance in rare earths
China Has Paid a High Price for Its Dominance in Rare Earths
Dust and groundwater contaminated with heavy metals and radioactive chemicals pose a health threat that the authorities have been trying to address for years.
By Keith Bradsher, who has covered the rare earths industry in China since 2009, reported from Baotou and Longnan in China.
Chinese mines and refineries produce most of the world’s rare earth metals and practically all of a few crucial kinds of rare earths. This has given China’s government near complete control over a critical choke point in global trade.
But for decades in northern China, toxic sludge from rare earth processing has been dumped into a four-square-mile artificial lake. In south-central China, rare earth mines have poisoned dozens of once-green valleys and left hillsides stripped to barren red clay.
Achieving dominance in rare earths came with a heavy cost for China, which largely tolerated severe environmental damage for many years. The industrialized world, by contrast, had tighter regulations and stopped accepting even limited environmental harm from the industry as far back as the 1990s, when rare earth mines and processing centers closed elsewhere.
https://u.osu.edu/mclc/2025/07/07/china-has-paid-a-high-price-for-dominance-in-rare-earths/