China is consolidating its position as the world’s leading rare-earth powerhouse by expanding domestic separation capacity and magnet-material production while tightening export controls on high-value materials and technologies. This strategy reflects Beijing’s long-term goal: secure upstream resources, dominate midstream processing, and shape global supply chains and pricing for critical minerals.
New separation and processing plants across Inner Mongolia, Sichuan, and Jiangxi are coming online with enhanced efficiency and lower energy intensity, supporting vertically integrated supply chains from ore extraction to oxide production, metals, and NdFeB magnet manufacturing. China is also boosting rare-earth recycling, particularly for magnets recovered from end-of-life electric motors, electronics, and industrial equipment.
Simultaneously, export restrictions on advanced rare-earth alloys, high-performance magnet technologies, and processing know-how have increased licensing requirements for foreign buyers. While raw oxides continue to circulate globally, these measures compel international manufacturers to diversify supply sources and explore partnerships outside China.
Environmental management is a key component of China’s approach. Authorities are enforcing stricter oversight of illegal mining, wastewater treatment, tailings management, and radiation control to stabilise production while mitigating ecological and community impacts.
China’s coordinated policy highlights a structural reality: it intends to maintain technological leadership in rare-earth processing and ensure that global supply chains remain partially reliant on its expertise. For the rest of the world, this underscores the urgency of strategic diversification, while acknowledging that China will remain a central player in the global rare-earth and magnet industry.
