Rare earth is an important strategic resource, which is widely used in various fields, especially in the fields of electronics and new energy related to military and future development. For a long time, China has exported a large number of rare earths to Japan, the United States, France and other countries, and it is the country with the largest export volume of rare earths in the world, once accounting for 80% of the global rare earth commodities.

At present, the proven global natural graphite reserves are about 7 1 10,000 tons, of which China reserves are about 55 million tons, accounting for 77% of the global reserves, ranking first in the world. Moreover, China's graphite has good geological conditions, wide distribution, large reserves and good quality, and is one of the most advantageous minerals in China. At present, graphite deposits have been discovered in 25 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in China.

American energy policy analysts have published a report on the global supply chain of rare earth elements, saying that in 2009, China's rare earth reserves accounted for 36% of the world's total, while its output accounted for 97% of the world's total. In sharp contrast with China, the US rare earth reserves account for 13% of the world, the Russian reserves account for 19% of the world, and the Australian reserves are 5.4 million tons, but the output is zero. According to another data, China lost billions of foreign exchange from 1995 to 2005 due to the low price of rare earth, while Japan has the international rare earth pricing power after storing enough rare earth at a low price.

Since 1995, China's rare earth reserves have fallen sharply due to massive export and blind mining. At present, the reserves are only 30% of the world's, but the export volume accounts for more than 90% of the global trade volume. At the same time, the mining of rare earth minerals has seriously damaged the environment, and it takes hundreds or even thousands of tons of raw ore to mine one ton of rare earth.

Since 2007, China began to implement mandatory plans for rare earth production and began to reduce rare earth exports. In 20 10, the export quota of rare earth products issued by the Ministry of Commerce decreased sharply by 40% compared with 2009.