The rare earths sector in Baotou city – located in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region – is powering ahead, with a raft of key indicators hitting their best levels in a decade, according to the Baotou bureau of industry and information technology.

The city's rare earths industry has 48 key projects currently under construction which will cost 11.7 billion yuan ($1.75 billion). So far this year, the city has completed investments of 3.49 billion yuan and it is striving for 37 projects to be completed and put into production within the year. During the same period, the output value of the Baotou rare earths sector has exceeded 1 billion yuan, while the development of key enterprises has progressed rapidly.

Elsewhere, the city is rolling out a municipal and district leaders' responsibility system for key enterprise projects. It will prioritize securing land for lead projects, assign special personnel to be responsible for project tracking services and coordinate and solve problems encountered in the process of enterprise production and project implementation.

Additionally, Baotou is also promoting the development of an internet platform for the rare earths new materials industry. At present, 31 enterprises have connected to the industrial internet, with more than 1,000 digital, intelligent and green items of equipment now linked to 45 industrial software apps. 

Through the implementation of the internet project, it is projected that productivity will be boosted  by more than 5 percent, average energy consumption will be reduced by more than 10 percent and that the indirect economic benefits will be increased by 15 percent.

A senior bureau official was bullish about future developments. "Moving forwards, Baotou will seize the opportunity to expand market demand for wind power, new energy vehicles and high-power energy-saving motors to accelerate the high-quality development of the rare earths industry," he said.