by LIU Sunan

China said it had discovered a major rare earth deposit in Sichuan province, in a find that could bolster supplies of the strategic minerals used in electric vehicles, electronics and other advanced manufacturing sectors.

The Ministry of Natural Resources said the Maoniuping mining area in Mianning county holds 9.6656 million metric tons of rare earth oxides, along with large deposits of fluorite and barite. State media said the deposit ranks second globally among operating rare earth mines, behind Bayan Obo in Inner Mongolia.

The find is more than 30 times Sichuan's five-year target of discovering 300,000 tons of rare earth oxides under its 2021-2025 mineral resources plan.

China's rare earth resources have long been split between light rare earths in the north and medium and heavy rare earths in the south. The discovery would give China a major light rare earth base in the southwest.

Sichuan has been pushing to build a broader rare earth industry chain, including mining, smelting and downstream processing. In 2023, the province set a goal of building a nationally competitive rare earth industry by 2027, with total industry output exceeding 100 billion yuan.