The truth about metal helps China grow fast but also gradually destroys this country

With the vast untreated waste lake and thousands of cancer people, this industry continues to exist due to the huge demand for production.

Understand rare earth - what is rare earth

That kind of metal can deserve the nickname "more precious than gold" , because the need to use this metal worldwide is extremely large. Elements such as terbium are used in the production of power-saving lamps, neodymium used in wind turbines, lanthanum is used in the manufacture of batteries for electric cars.

Rare earth type called Dysprosi.

Rare earths are also used in the manufacture of phones, computers, iPods, LCD flat screens, washing machines, X-ray machines and even for missile navigation systems and spacecraft. The industry based on these rare earths is estimated to be worth £ 2 billion, accounting for 5% of global GDP.

The world's largest rare earth mining mine

It is Bayan Obo mine in China, the largest rare earth mine in the world, which has been operating for 5 decades now.

Rare ore mines giant Bayan Obo.

The stone here is filled with rare earth mixed in iron ore. With such large reserves, this mine is the leading source of rare earth in the world. Western electrical production relies heavily on minerals from this mine. In 2008, China provided 139,000 tons of rare earth for industry everywhere, accounting for 97% of the world's rare earth production.

As in the Middle East, there is oil, in China, it is rich in rare earth . "This is not only a rare earth homeland in China, but also of the whole world," said one person at the mine.

But such a huge mining industry must have its reverse. It is the policy of lax environmental management in this billion-dollar country that makes the production of rare earth easier, when production costs are only about one-third that of other competitors. According to a report on the rare earth industry in 2010, the country "has almost no standard waste treatment process".

Waste from rare earth treatment plants.

Like nuclear plants, rare earth mining projects also need strict measures to prevent its heavy impact on the environment, said Peter Karamoskos, a researcher on county safety measures. of the Australian Institute of Nuclear Safety and Radiation Research.

These pollution from this Bayan Obo rare earth mine is the reason why farmers in tree plantations and cultivated lands around the mine are leaving their homes and fields to look for new jobs. As Mr. Liu, a former farmer who is now an ore mining worker, said he could earn five times as much money as farming with the mining work here.

A worker at the Bayan Obo rare earth mine.

Another worker, Mr. Guo Fu Qiang said: "The payment is quite generous, but the project owner does not pay us any more when it comes to harsh weather and extremely toxic environments. More harm, no one of us has accident insurance ". Another person working at the warehouse said he would never set foot in that mine or areas for handling rare earths, no matter how much he was paid : "It's like suicide. You work there will be cancer sooner or later, but will die ".

It is not clear how long it will take to work in a warehouse, when the entire environment around this huge mine is heavily poisoned.

That's right, that source of income has another cost to pay, a completely destroyed environment. Residential areas as well as surrounding areas are gradually polluted. The whole neighborhood became a dead zone, the ore processing machines that were thrown there made the entire land evoke a feeling of dissolution after a war.

Serious effects on the environment

North China, near the Mongolian border, a lake of waste that has existed for decades has threatened to source the Yellow River, an important source of water for more than 150 million people.

In the southeastern province of Guangdong, people are trying to renovate the rice fields and streams and water channels here, which have been destroyed by the strong acid source leaked from the rare earth mining areas. near.

The Chinese government continues to reject the concerns raised by the international community, as well as the World Trade Organization, that the consequences of the exploitation of rare earths on the environment will be extremely heavy. .

The entire vicinity of this mine becomes a dead zone.(Photo: Kate Davies).

All villages located between Baotou and Yellow River cities have been evacuated and resettled when there are reports that the rate of cancer has increased dramatically, which is nothing more than the cause. Exploiting and refining rare earths.

Plants that handle these metals emit many types of toxic waste, most notably heavy radioactive thorium. Tons of concentrated sulfuric acid are used to break down the chemical structure of rare earth ores, from which pure rare earth can be refined. These horrible wastes are discharged into a reservoir near the Yellow River, just to the eastern outskirts of Baotou City, a reservoir of more than 10 km ² .

A large lake was out of sight, filled with extremely slim, black and toxic waste. On the shore are dozens of waste pipes that regularly pour into the lake with excesses from the rare earth processing cycle of nearby factories. The smell of heavy sulfur accompanied by the noisy sounds of unrelenting exhaust pipes, making this place feel like a living hell.

You can see the image of this waste pool from Google Earth, and if you zoom in, you will see the lakeside pipes, connected from rare earth treatment plants.

The waste is toxic, it is not a problem, but the radioactive components like thorium are the cause of cancer of the spleen, lungs and many other diseases if people eat that kind of disease. " Before those factories were built, this place was a vast field of watermelons, tomatoes and eggplant," one of the people still clung to the place, Li Guirong sighed.

It all started in 1958, when Baotou Iron and Steel Company started to exploit and produce rare earths here. And also since then, this lake of waste has begun to form.

By the end of the 1980s, the crop here began to fade. " Crops have flowers, but when the results are finished, they often shrink, even stinking." Ten years later, the villagers had to accept the fact that crops cannot grow here. Xinguang Sancun Village, along with many villages near those rare earth refineries, stopped farming.

Trees in the area are stunted, lifeless.

Many studies show that the source of everything is rare earth and the process of mining and processing that rare earth. Residents of Baotou City, the "rare earth capital of the world" , had to inhale the air filled with sulfuric acid and coal dust for years. Farm animals die, crops no longer cause people to leave their homes, and the city's population from 2,000 falls to just a few hundred.

Many residents still complain that they have a lot of diseases: pain in the extremities, diarrhea, osteoporosis and heart and lung problems. Almost every family here is infected.

The government does not help much in this. They are promised compensation but also incomplete and inadequate. Resettlement is also mentioned, many apartment buildings were erected only a few kilometers away from their old buildings.

Pipeline waste discharged into the suburbs of the city.

But those buildings are almost empty. The government requires people to buy rights in those buildings, but they will not be passed on to their descendants.

Some people try to make a profit from the waste in the other lake, because those wastes still retain some rare earth, those parts will be sold to a recycling plant for $ 300 / ton. .

But the government has placed orders to prohibit the exploitation and resale of waste in the lake. A number of people have been tried for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison for this behavior.