Recently, the unveiling of the 12th Five-Year Development Planning for the New Material Industry (hereinafter referred to as Planning)has drawn wide attention of the industry. According to a chief engineer of a nonferrous metals company in Chaoyang, Liaoning province, the Planning has opened up new room for development of the nonferrous metals industry,and is beneficial to the industry transforming from “big” to “powerful”.

During the 11th Five-Year Plan period, China’s nonferrous metals industry has made significant progress in terms of output and quality.Firstly, the industry’s annual average added value rose by 16.2%, with the proportion to China’s GDP increasing from 1.19% to 1.99%.In 2010, China’s output of ten nonferrous metals reached 31,350,000 tons, ranking No.1 in the world for nine consecutive years, with both output and consumption accounting for approximately 1/3 of that of the world. China has firmly established itself as a nonferrous metals powerhouse in the world. Currently, China has become a dominant factor that drives growth of the world’s nonferrous metals industry, and a major force that promotes energy conservation and emission reduction and technological advance of the nonferrous metals industry across the world. And it is playing an increasingly important role in the development of the nonferrous metals industry in the world. Secondly,China’s smelting products have reached international standards. 8 types of products including copper, aluminum, lead, zinc, tin, nickel,silver and aluminum alloy covering 56 brands have been registered in London Metal Exchange and London Bullion Market Association. All previous national quality sampling inspections showed that products of such brands always have relatively high acceptability. Although China has become a big country of nonferrous metals, it still lags far behind nonferrous metals powers of the world in the field of new materials development. The Planning explicitly states that we shall rely on technological innovations, vigorously develop new materials and foster international competitiveness in the fields of some key materials, which will become a critical step for China to turn itself into a nonferrous metals power.

This chief engineer analyzed the prospect of the nonferrous metals industry according to relevant data. Firstly, in the field of new energy, during the 12th Five-Year Plan period, it is estimated that 40,000 tons of rare-earth permanent magnets, 40,000 tons of polysilicon,1200 tons of nuclear zirconium and 2000 tons of zirconium & zirconium alloy ingots are needed annually; in the fields of energy-saving and new-energy automobile, by 2015, 15 billion watt-hours of energy cell modules, 3 billion watt-hours of power cell modules,100,000,000 square meters of cell diaphragms,1,000 tons of LiPF6 electrolytic brine, 10,000 tons of anodes and 4000 tons of carbon-based cathodes will be needed annually; the demand for passenger cars will exceed 12 million, requiring approximately 170,000 tons of aluminum alloy plates and 100,000 tons of magnesium alloy annually.

Secondly, China will implement major projects related to new materials, emphasizing highstrength light alloy, high-performance iron &steel, functional membrane materials, new power cell materials, carbon fiber composite and rare earth functional materials, of which rare earth functional material is one of the highlights in the new material planning, and special projects concerning rare earth and rare metals functional materials will be implemented. Acceleration of R&D and industrialization of key application technologies and rare earth industry will be beneficial to the promotion of restructuring and technical upgrading of the industry,and change the situation of rare earth export with an emphasis on low-end products, which is critical to the promotion of in-depth development of rare earth technologies and industry and real transformation from resource advantage to economic advantage. China’s rare earth& new materials industry is plagued by lagging research and development of high-end applications, low resources utilization as well as small scale and low standard of application industry.Most rare-earth permanent magnets are lowend products, while high-end rare-earth permanent magnets have a small market share, and export of many products requires payment of high patent tax. Furthermore, China’s Ni-MH battery sector for hybrid electric car starts late and relevant technologies are immature. However, China’s unveiling of policies related to new materials will create historic opportunities for development and upgrading of the Ni-MH battery sector.