Heavy rare earths: The "heart key" of new energy power

Take neodymium iron boron magnets as an example. This material, known as the "King of Permanent Magnets", is a core component of the drive motors in new energy vehicles, wind turbines, and industrial robots. A high-end new energy vehicle's drive motor requires 1-2 kilograms of neodymium iron boron magnets. Among them, only 1% of the dysprosium and terbium elements are the key to the magnet's high-temperature resistance (up to over 200°C) and demagnetization resistance - they act like "magnetic stabilizers", ensuring that the motor maintains high efficiency even under high-load operation. China not only monopolizes 93% of the global heavy rare earth refining capacity but also, through its independently developed ion-type rare earth ore purification technology, has raised the extraction purity of dysprosium and terbium to 99.99%, forming a "full-chain barrier" from mining to purification.

Another underestimated "strategic metal" is antimony. Antimony-lead alloys containing 6% to 8% antimony have three times the hardness of pure lead and a 40% increase in impact resistance. They are core materials for bullet cores and artillery shell casings - the addition of antimony to a regular bullet core can penetrate steel plates 1.5 times thicker; adding antimony to missile casings can better withstand high-temperature friction and fragment impacts during high-speed flight. China not only has 14% to 30% of the world's antimony reserves (over 300,000 tons) but also, with an annual output of over 30,000 tons (40% of the global total), is the only country in the world that can stably supply high-purity antimony-lead alloys, providing a "hard support" for the upgrading of national defense equipment.