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Mines/China

Bayan Obo mine

Bayan Obo mine, China. Producing, open pit, mining rare earths, iron ore, niobium.

Why Bayan Obo is famous

Inner Mongolia mine listed in the internal operations table for rare earths, iron ore and niobium. Mine-level history not yet sourced.1

Story cards

Timeline

  1. 1927Bayan Obo iron deposit found2

What kind of deposit

Ion-adsorption clay rare earths

Bayan Obo today

Where rare earths is mined todayWhere iron ore is mined todayWhere niobium is mined todayMining in China

Where next

Mines

An example ofMountain PassBayan Obo, found in 1927 as an iron deposit, became China's main rare earth source.3

Events

Led toBayan Obo iron deposit foundRead what happened near Bayan Obo: Bayan Obo iron deposit found.1

Places

Worked hereBaotouBayan Obo is run by Baotou Steel and China Northern Rare Earth.1

Deposit types

ExamplesIon-adsorption clay rare earthsSouthern China's clays give heavy rare earths. Bayan Obo, found in 1927, is the northern giant.4

Sources

  1. data/minerals/operations.csv Prospector Trails (internal)
  2. Bulletin 2143, Bayan Obo: Introduction US Geological Survey
  3. Form 10-K for the year ended 31 December 2025 MP Materials Corp (SEC)
  4. Critical Mineral Resources of the United States (PP 1802), Chapter O: Rare-Earth Elements US Geological Survey

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

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