China plans to increase mine output in world’s largest rare earth deposit by 50%

China plans to expand production capacity of a mine in Bayan Obo in its Inner Mongolia region with an investment of over half a billion yuan (US$74 million). The expansion will raise the mine’s annual output by 50 per cent from 10 million to 15 million tonnes at the world’s largest rare earth deposit. Bayan Obo is a complex polymetallic deposit containing iron, rare earths, fluorite, niobium, scandium and thorium. The project is mainly aimed at increasing iron ore output while rare earths…