Baotou, a “city of rare earth” in Inner Mongolia, will receive nearly 1 billion yuan ($161.1 million) over three years to develop into China’s largest base for rare earth materials by the end of 2017, after a plan to restructure and upgrade the industry was approved by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Ministry of Finance on June 10.

The advanced technologies are priorities in the industrial restructuring and upgrading. In March, Baotou reached an agreement with Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) on a materials research institute, which will integrate innovative factors and resources to drive the industry’s restructuring.

Sun Baode, head of the SJTU’s school of Materials Science and Engineering, described the cooperation as “complementary”, "Baotou has strong industrial basis, while we have high-end technology and professionals. The cooperation is promising,” Sun said.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences set up a rare earth research center in Baotou in May. By making use of the academy’s advantages in technologies and professionals, it is helping to upgrade the city’s rare earths industry and boosting high-tech enterprises in this industry.

Statistics show that the trade value of rare earth products in the first half of this year hit 15 billion yuan, double the total in last year.