Tracing the material flows of dysprosium in China from 2010 to 2020: An investigation of the partition characteristics of different rare earth mining areas

Abstract

Dysprosium, a critical rare earth element, is widely used in industries such as electric vehicles, wind power generation and electronic products. China leads dysprosium mining. However, the dysprosium supply cannot satisfy the demand due to mining restrictions. This study traced dysprosium flows and stocks in China from 2011 to 2020 by adopting a dynamic material flow approach. Compared to existing studies, dysprosium mining was divided into nine provincial mining areas, revealing the dysprosium mining characteristics and facilitating more realistic supply and demand balance value estimation. Moreover, the typically overlooked issue of dysprosium final product recycling was addressed. The results showed that (1) the dysprosium supply mainly results from mining, with the largest mining contribution in Jiangxi Province, accounting for 46% of the total mining amount; (2) from 2011 to 2020, the total dysprosium demand was 132828 tons, of which 25% was exported; (3) the dysprosium supply–demand gap was mainly due to dysprosium mining, with the supply gap accounting for approximately 46% of the total supply from 2011 to 2020; and (4) with increasing dysprosium in-use stocks, China exhibited a vast dysprosium recycling potential.