BEIJING — Japan and China have reached a significant agreement to jointly extract, refine and use rare earth.
That is the name given to lanthanides, a group of scarce metallic elements used in a variety of fields including aerospace, electronics, pharmaceuticals, agriculture and light industry.
The video tubes in televisions and computers use lanthanides. China, according to its government`s estimates, has 80 percent of the world`s reserves.
The idea of having a continuous supply of rare earth prompted Japan`s Ministry of International Trade and Industry last year to propose a joint venture to the Chinese.
The pact was finally signed in Beijing recently by Chinese Vice Minister Ye Qing, who heads the state planning commission, and Heiichi Hamaoka, director of the Japanese Agency of Natural Resources.
The metals` most important property is their ability to oxidize rapidly in air and in water to form hydroxides. The compounds react with boron, nitrogen, phosphorus and other elements.
The oxide and the boride of lanthanum are used in the manufacture of cathode ray tubes for televisions and computers. Japan is a world leader in television production and exports.
China last year became the world`s largest user of rare earth after Japan, and its output surpassed that of the United States.
China produced 15,100 tons last year, while annual consumption rose 13 percent to 4,800 tons.
China needs advanced technology and machinery to update its methods of mining, which vary from turn-of-the-century levels to those of the 1960s.
The agreement with the Japanese specifies that bilateral conferences will be held with government and nongovernment entities of the two countries.
``Although China consumes almost the same amount of rare earth each year as Japan, only 1 percent is used in high-tech projects, compared with 20 percent in Japan,`` according to a Beijing newspaper account.
More than two-thirds of China`s rare earth is produced in the north of the country by North China Rare Earth Enterprises, which owns 93 percent of the nation`s resources.
The group comprises 13 companies operating under different government bodies.