With the rapid development of the third scientific and technological revolution, rare earth, known as “industrial vitamin”, as an important strategic resource, has become an important driving force for the development of international competition. China’s rare earth industrial reserves have absolute advantages in quantity, and the future market development also has great potential. As a medium and heavy rare earth base in the whole country and even in the whole world, Jiangxi is facing many challenges under the current situation of drastic changes in international relations and fierce competition, and there are a series of problems such as lack of enterprise innovation. Therefore, the author made a special investigation on the operation and development of Jiangxi rare earth enterprises.

Present Situation of Rare Earth Industry in Jiangxi Province

(1) Advantages. First, the advantages of mineral resources. Jiangxi Province is rich in rare earth minerals with high quality and abundant reserves. It is one of the regions with the largest reserves of medium and heavy rare earth minerals in China, and also one of the mining and production bases of rare earth minerals in China and even in the world. The regional distribution of mineral resources is obvious, the degree of concentration is strong, and the advantages of geological conditions needed for mining are obvious, which is conducive to rare earth enterprises to engage in development work. Second, the advantages of R&D technology. Jiangxi Province has a relatively complete R&D system, many R&D institutions with strong R&D capabilities, and universities have set up strong R&D units for rare earth enterprises, which provide scientific and technological guarantee for rare earth enterprises. In rare earth mining and separation and smelting, 11 patents, such as ultraviolet light grafting to prepare ion exchange fibers, have been developed, which has strongly promoted the development of rare earth industry in Jiangxi Province. 。 Third, the advantages of policy support. Since 2016, Ganzhou City, known as the “rare earth kingdom”, has issued a series of rare earth support policies, which give financial support and preferential treatment to the rare earth enterprises in southern Jiangxi, and promote the sales revenue of rare earth products in the province to reach a historical peak, and the comprehensive strength of rare earth enterprises to reach the leading level in the country. Fourth, the advantages of industrial clusters. In recent years, the rare earth industry in Jiangxi Province has developed rapidly. The enterprises in Jiangxi tungsten industry, Ganzhou rare earth industry and Qiandong rare earth industry have grown in scale. Five rare earth industry chains, including rare earth luminescent materials, rare earth permanent magnetic materials and heavy rare earth alloy materials, have been focused on. With the improvement of production base matching and the appearance of industrial cluster effect, a number of advantages of characteristic industrial clusters have been formed and developed.

(2) Disadvantage. First, serious loss of resources, weak awareness of environmental protection and prominent pollution problems. The reserve-mining ratio of rare earth deposits in Jiangxi Province is decreasing, and the recovery rate of rare earth resources is also decreasing. In the process of rare earth mining and production, a large amount of wastewater, waste residue and exhaust gas discharged from the mine cause environmental pollution and ecological pollution. Second, the extension of the industrial chain is not enough. According to the survey, most of the rare earth enterprises in Jiangxi are limited to pursuing short-term economic benefits, with low investment in science and technology and insufficient ability to absorb R&D technology. As a result, the added value of products is not high. The focus of development is on the front end of the industry. The product convergence is single, and the extension ability of the industrial chain is limited. As a result, rare earth application products and downstream products with high added value are few and the enterprises have a strong development stamina. Not enough. Third, human resources and support are inadequate. The practitioners of rare earth enterprises in Jiangxi have low educational background and lack of high-end talents. At the same time, the effective incentive and restraint mechanism is not perfect, which is not conducive to the introduction and retention of talents by Jiangxi rare earth enterprises. This directly affects the management and development of rare earth enterprises in Jiangxi Province and hinders sustainable development. Fourth, industry supervision is weak. Due to the absence of local protectionism and unified supervision system, coupled with the poor self-discipline of rare earth enterprises, illegal exploitation and smuggling of non-governmental activities have repeatedly been prohibited, resulting in serious loss of rare earth resources and low utilization rate of resources, which seriously restricts the sustainable development of rare earth industry in Jiangxi Province.

(3) Opportunities. First, rare earth has broad prospects for development, and the demand for rare earth in high-tech fields has increased. Due to the non-renewable nature of rare earth and its special irreplaceability, the development of new energy, aerospace, national defense and military fields can not be separated from the use of rare earth products. The demand for rare earth increases year by year. Compared with 2016, the global demand for rare earth increased by 5624 tons in 2017. It is estimated that the global demand for rare earth will increase by about 12% in 2018, and the market demand for rare earth will continue to grow. 。 Second, globalization and the deepening level of international economic cooperation provide new opportunities for development. The diffusion and dissemination of advanced rare earth production technology from abroad to China is conducive to learning the experience of foreign enterprises in company management and R&D technology, upgrading the production and R&D technology level of Jiangxi rare earth enterprises, improving the structure of rare earth products and seizing the development opportunities. Three, the construction of “one belt and one road” provides a new pattern of development. The proposal of “one belt and one road” is aimed at strengthening political, economic and cultural exchanges among countries, providing new opportunities for all parties and creating a new pattern of opening up. Jiangxi rare earth enterprises should make good use of this macro-policy to adjust their structure, upgrade their industries and expand their product output to the output of the industrial chain. It can build up their brand image, improve their competitiveness and seize the market share of heavy ion rare earth in the world.

(4) Challenges. The research and development of international rare earth substitutes has a great impact on China’s export of rare earth products. Changes in the international political and economic situation have resulted in large fluctuations in the rare earth market. The promotion of ecological civilization construction and the implementation of green financial policy put forward higher environmental protection requirements. China is constantly promoting the construction of ecological civilization, and environmental protection laws and regulations have been promulgated successively, which restrict the production, research and development of rare earth industry. The state vigorously pursues the green financial policy, requires financial institutions to provide credit and other financing, incorporates environmental assessment into the process, and constantly requires rare earth enterprises to strengthen investment in environmental protection and pollution control. The pressure on enterprises in financing will continue to increase.

Development path

(1) Implementing growth-oriented strategy, strengthening strengths, weakening weaknesses and promoting the healthy development of rare earth enterprises. First, we should strengthen scientific and Technological Development and expand the application of rare earth. Jiangxi rare earth enterprises should speed up the construction of independent innovation ability and enhance the innovation ability of enterprises by combining academia with industry. Scientific research institutions, universities and rare earth enterprises should form a complete channel of scientific research information circulation. In order to develop new products and processes, we should change the current production and operation mode, which mainly focuses on rare earth smelting and separation, change the scientific research mode, and improve the integration of technical resources. Second, we should maintain the advantages of resources and establish a brand image. Jiangxi rare earth enterprises should make full use of big data technology, improve the insufficiency of market information control, build a complete market information system, and clearly guide the orientation and development direction of enterprises. We should establish brand image, use appropriate brand extension strategy, and prevent the consumption of corporate image. In line with the market demand trend for application-oriented and high value-added products, we should increase R&D and extend the existing product lines. We should speed up the establishment of new brand lines, occupy a favorable market position and establish a good corporate image. Third, we should keep a close eye on policies and markets and open up domestic and foreign markets. The rare earth enterprises in Jiangxi Province should comprehensively analyze the internal and external environmental factors of enterprises from an international perspective, make the best use of various development opportunities provided by government policies and markets, actively open up overseas markets, strengthen cooperation with transnational corporations, make enterprises bigger and stronger, and enhance their ability to withstand risks, so as to be able to gradually dominate the market.

(2) Implementing the twist strategy, seizing opportunities, eliminating disadvantages and achieving steady development of the rare earth industry. First, we should vigorously cultivate outstanding scientific and technological personnel and managerial personnel. Enterprises should regularly train employees in rare earth mining, production, management and other aspects of knowledge and skills. We should attach great importance to the introduction and training of R&D personnel, vigorously build first-class technological innovation centers, and strive to develop products and equipment with independent intellectual property rights. Salesmen timely feedback customer demand information and opinions and suggestions, timely update rare earth products, adjust product structure, improve enterprise management and clear development direction. Managers need to have sustained motivation, the ability to discover the strengths of others and organizational drive. Second, we should attach importance to comprehensive utilization of resources and safeguards of environmental protection. We should recognize the challenges facing us in the current situation, actively change the development mode, and change and develop to the intensive and innovation-driven development mode. Attention should be paid to the comprehensive development and utilization of resources and the improvement of sewage and waste gas treatment facilities. We will improve the internal management of enterprises, enhance their ability to protect the ecological environment, assume responsibility for environmental pollution and recovery, and develop into a green and sustainable new type of industrialization. Third, green finance promotes sustainable healthy and high-quality development of rare earth industry. Under the guidance of green financial policy, we should guide capital and technical personnel to gather in rare earth enterprises and promote the upgrading and transformation of energy-saving and environmental protection. We should actively play the role of gathering and guiding financial service tools such as credit, funds and bonds, vigorously promote the transformation and development of rare earth enterprises into application-oriented and high value-added products, and realize the high-quality development of rare earth industry in Jiangxi.