The Baotou Rare Earth High-tech Industrial Development Zone. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The Baotou Rare Earth High-tech Industrial Development Zone was recently selected to join the national-level "green industrial parks list" according to an announcement by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The zone is understood to be the only industrial park in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region to have received the honor.

In recent years, the zone has gone down the path of going green and low carbon. It has expanded its industrial transformation and upgrading, accelerated the establishment of a green manufacturing system, as well as formed four leading industries: rare earth, non-ferrous metals, equipment manufacturing, and new energy.

In terms of the rare earth sector, the industrial transformation and upgrading is said to have achieved significant results with the support of key scientific research bodies – namely four major rare earth scientific research institutes, two academician expert workstations, the Bayan Obo State Key Laboratory, the National Technology Transfer and Transformation Center, and the Enterprise Technology Center.

The output in the zone of rare earth permanent magnet materials is said to rank among the top three in China. The output of hydrogen storage and polishing materials ranks first in the country, and the rare earth raw materials produced there using green environmental protection technology account for more than 80 percent of the country's output.

In the non-ferrous metal deep processing industry, the green commercial industrial supply chain has been further extended.

In the new energy industry – which includes the 40 gigawatts monocrystalline silicon plant operated by the Shuangliang Group – major producers are said to have gradually achieved digital management and intelligent production.