Mining
As of 2015, China is the top mining country in the world. China mines the most gold, zinc, lead, moly, iron ore, and rare earth metals. China also mines the second most silver, copper, cobalt, and coal worldwide. The figure below displays the top mining countries globally. Points ranging from one to ten were assigned to the countries (Basov, 2015). The top producing country is awarded ten points, the second producer is awarded nine points, continuing until the tenth place country who receives one point. China leads the world in mineral production, followed by Australia, Russia, and the United States in fourth place (Basov, 2015). This is significant in that China has great power over the world's market for many precious metals.
" Countries – leaders in their domestic mine production. Results expressed in mining points" Graph found in "China is burning through its natural resources." by Vladmir Bosav
Rare Earth Mining
The continual advancement of technology calls for increasing amounts of natural resources, among these resources are many rare earth metals. China has a monopoly on many of these rare earth metals producing 89% of all these metals globally. However, these rare earth metals are frequently embedded in rock, so extracting and isolating them is not only expensive, but also very dangerous for the environment (Simmons, 2016). The mining of rare earth metals has produced toxic waste ruining farm land, poisoning water supplies, and causing great sicknesses throughout the country. What is largely unknown is that rare earth metals are used not only to produce things like smartphones, but are also used in many "clean energy"machines like electric cars and wind turbines (Simmons, 2016). This raises the question as to if the environment is actually better off from these so called "clean energy" products. Below is a video discussing the health implications of this mining process.
The image above shows the production of rare earth metals in red and the constumption of rare earth metals is identified in blue text.
Infographic found in "Rare-Earth Market" by Lee Simmons
Infographic found in "Rare-Earth Market" by Lee Simmons
Header photo: Boatman at Work by P Bibler used under Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 2.0
Sources
Bibler, P. (2010). Boatman at Work. [Digital Image]. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/monkeylikemind/14184783373/in/photolist-nBsHUz-7snBgp-cxVTnd-aij35m-gw3pgZ-ksyDZj-5kYzBr-7snGfp-eBanwF-dC9TQr-7srzgh-3R13J-9oRso5-7NKdNN-q8L3ti-arK44A-4hrYR1-8vUtTV-5qPMfV-nhUfuN-cG7BXY-6c91zg-agYXB8-dRT9La-kP9fm-7gjaap-2CJw8a-ksyQ2z-9vqAFr-4ACuuq-7srWZ7-beYFCV-9iwRKP-7snSNV-4orpy4-7snASg-g2Yxyg-7srXwj-4rGyGY-7iRVL7-7snUgT-dWV2xU-6xoG4-rKvpW-cG6MXs-aDdSU-cG6MCd-97HuzD-7snAAe-7snAJr. Available under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0
Basov, V. (2015, April 26). China is burning through its natural resources | MINING.com. Retrieved December 01, 2016, from http://www.mining.com/china-burning-natural-resources/
Hawtin, N. (2011). Where The Minerals Are. Retrieved December 01, 2016, from http://visual.ly/where-minerals-are.
Simmons, L. (2016, July 12). Rare-Earth Market. Retrieved December 01, 2016, from http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/07/12/decoder-rare-earth-market-tech-defense-clean-energy-china-trade/
Basov, V. (2015, April 26). China is burning through its natural resources | MINING.com. Retrieved December 01, 2016, from http://www.mining.com/china-burning-natural-resources/
Hawtin, N. (2011). Where The Minerals Are. Retrieved December 01, 2016, from http://visual.ly/where-minerals-are.
Simmons, L. (2016, July 12). Rare-Earth Market. Retrieved December 01, 2016, from http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/07/12/decoder-rare-earth-market-tech-defense-clean-energy-china-trade/