China has discovered a superlarge rare earth deposit with 1.15 million tons of potential resources in Honghe Hani and Yi Autonomous Prefecture of southwest China's Yunnan Province, the China Geological Survey (CGS) under under the Ministry of Natural Resources said on Thursday.
The key rare earth elements such as praseodymium, neodymium, dysprosium, and terbium exceed 470,000 tons in this newly discovered ion-adsorption-type rare earth deposit, marking another significant breakthrough in China since the first such discovery in east China's Jiangxi Province in 1969, according to the CGS.
The deposit is expected to become China's largest medium and heavy rare earth deposit, the CGS added.
"Rare earth elements are a group of 16 chemical elements, which can be divided into three small groups: light, medium and heavy. Each new energy vehicle requires 0.8 kilograms of rare earth, so the demand of the element is huge and increasing every year," said Wang Xueqiu, principal scientist of the Institute of Geophysical and Geochemical Exploration under the Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences. Medium and heavy rare earth resources, which are essential for new energy, high-tech and national defense industries, are relatively scarce in China, so the deposit is expected to help ease the scarcity of rare earth for many fields.
China discovers superlarge rare earth deposit in Yunnan
U.S. military forces continue to enforce "U.S. sanctions and fully implement the blockade against ships entering or departing Iranian ports", U.S. Central Command said on social media Saturday.
In a post on X, the U.S. Central Command said that 37 vessels have been redirected since the start of the blockade, noting a merchant vessel named Sevan, intercepted in the Arabian Sea earlier Saturday by the U.S. forces, is currently "complying with U.S. military direction to turn back to Iran under escort".
U.S. President Donald Trump announced on April 12 that the U.S. Navy would begin blocking ships trying to enter or leave the Strait of Hormuz. His decision came after the first round of U.S.-Iranian talks on April 11 and 12 in Islamabad, Pakistan, failed to produce a peace deal.
In response to Trump's announcement, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has warned that "any threat against the security of the Strait of Hormuz will have large-scale consequences for global trade".
On Saturday, Iran's main military command, Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, reiterated its pledge to react if the United States continues its "blockade, banditry and piracy" in the West Asia region. Trump announced earlier Saturday that he has canceled the trip of U.S. representatives going to Islamabad this weekend for talks with the Iranian side.
US military says blockade against Iran to be continuously "fully implemented"
