According to Inner Mongolia Daily, the “Proposal of the CPC Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Committee on Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development” addresses the rare earth industry. The specific content is as follows:
Vigorously develop a modern energy economy and build a national important energy and strategic resource base: Strengthen the development and utilization of strategic mineral resources. Adhere to protective development, high-quality utilization, and standardized management; strengthen the R&D and application of new rare earth technologies, processes, products, materials, and equipment; accelerate the extension, supplementation, and strengthening of the light rare earth industry chain; intensify the development and utilization of medium and heavy rare earths; build a national-oriented rare earth new materials sci-tech innovation center and rare earth product trading center; establish the country’s largest rare earth new materials base and a globally leading rare earth application base. Expand and strengthen the rare earth permanent magnet motor industry and implement the rare earth permanent magnet motor replacement project. Thoroughly implement a new round of the strategic action for prospecting breakthroughs, innovate mineral resource exploration systems and mechanisms, strengthen reserve increase and exploration of important mineral resources in key areas, improve the coordinated system for exploration, production, supply, storage, and sales. Increase the proportion of large and medium-sized mines, cultivate integrated mining, beneficiation, smelting, and processing mining groups and industrial clusters.
Accelerate high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-strengthening, and develop new quality productive forces in line with local conditions: Strengthen research on key core technologies. Focus on advantageous fields such as new energy, rare earth new materials, carbon-based new materials, semiconductor new materials, non-ferrous metal new materials, green hydrogen-ammonia-alcohol, biopharmaceuticals, biological breeding, and grassland dairy industry to implement a batch of major sci-tech tasks and produce more landmark original achievements. Enhance the support capacity for basic sci-tech conditions, strengthen the construction of two national key laboratories—the Special Vehicle Design and Manufacturing Integration Technology Laboratory and the Baiyunobo Rare Earth Resource Research and Comprehensive Utilization Laboratory—as well as innovation platforms and bases such as the Bayannur National Agricultural High-tech Industry Demonstration Zone, Daqingshan Laboratory, and Ordos Laboratory, to create a multi-level innovation platform system led by national-level platforms and supported by autonomous region-level platforms.
Optimize the regional economic layout and promote coordinated regional development: Promote coordinated development among leagues and cities in eastern, central, and western Inner Mongolia. Promote integrated development of Hohhot, Baotou, Ordos, and Ulanqab; strengthen interconnection of infrastructure, joint construction and sharing of public resources, joint research on key technologies, coordinated ecological and environmental protection, and division of labor and collaboration in key industries; optimize and strengthen industries such as new energy, rare earth, new chemical industry, advanced green high-load energy, semiconductor silicon-based materials, characteristic agriculture and animal husbandry, biopharmaceuticals, computing power economy, and low-altitude economy to create more competitive growth poles.
