Gandu, known as the rare earth city in the south, has been very lively recently.

This small prefecture-level city is now home to a number of forces, including central and local state-owned enterprises, private enterprises, as well as coal bosses and real estate developers who have dug up the first pot of gold, all of which want to get a piece of the national rare earth resource integration tide.

Gandu City sits on tens of millions of tons of rare earth reserves, claiming to occupy more than half of the rare earth resources in the south, and has become a battleground for rare earth enterprises to go south.

Ganxi Province has long been known as one of the most non-existent provinces in China, mainly because the light has been taken away by neighboring provinces, such as the neighboring provinces of Nanyue and Zhehai, which are well-known shining stars in China. However, this time the rare earth city gathered together, making Ganxi Province the focus of national public opinion, and being a meteor if you can't be a star is better than having no sense of existence.

In China's rare earth rivers and lakes, has always been divided into the north and the south, in the mid-to-late 90s, the country had intended to divide the river and form the north and south of the two rare earth groups, but due to the entanglement of interests conditions are not ripe and end up without a problem. In the face of the chaos of digging all over the mountain, the state once again decided to rectify the chaotic rare earth market and support large enterprises to form large groups with a scale of about 10 companies across regions.

Similar to China's topography, rare earth resources also show different forms of regional distribution in the north and south. The north is all plains, and rare earths are mainly concentrated in the Inner Mongolia Plain, and Baotou Iron and Steel Group has been strongly integrated with the support of local governments, so Baotou Steel occupies a monopoly position in the northern rare earth market.

However, the southern rare earths are scattered in the five provinces south of the Yangtze River, among which the western Jiangxi Province has the largest reserves, which is regarded as the leading position of the bull's ear. Due to the relatively scattered rare earth resources in the five southern provinces, they have always been dominated by local county and city governments, and there are many small and medium-sized enterprises.

With the beginning of the national integration order and the financial increase brought by 4 trillion yuan, central enterprises have entered the rare earth industry from bulk strategic mineral resources such as gold, copper, coal, aluminum, etc., among which the two major central enterprises of Minmetals and Chinalco are the most active. The rare earth resources in the north have been taken over by Baotou Steel, and Minmetals and Chinalco have targeted the chaotic five southern provinces, preparing to compete for the source of rare earths.

In the face of the menacing attack of the two major central enterprises, local state-owned enterprises and private enterprises engaged in the rare earth industry in the five southern provinces all feel the crisis and intend to join hands to form an alliance to compete.

The reason why Gandu has become the focus is because the five southern provinces planned to establish the Southern Rare Earth Association in Gandu to jointly coordinate the development of rare earth resources as soon as the national integration order came out.

The world comes and goes, and the word comes first.

The central enterprises went south to see the huge profits of the rare earth industry. The establishment of rare earth associations in the five southern provinces under the leadership of the government also hopes to convert the rich rare earth resources into local GDP and fiscal revenue.

In the past, the local government still welcomed central enterprises to invest in minerals, after all, the Chinese enterprises had abundant funds and could bring large projects, but after the actual landing, they found that it was more just a move of central enterprises to enclose land. Taxes have been paid to the headquarters of central enterprises, and there is little income from local tax sources, and the promised projects have not been implemented for a long time. In the end, it became a central enterprise mining to be shipped out, and the local tax revenue could not share the money and had to bear the consequences of resource depletion, which made the local government very dissatisfied.

For a simple example, for the same rare earth mine, if it is mined by a central enterprise, 100 yuan will produce less than 10 yuan of local government tax revenue. However, if it is mined by local state-owned enterprises or private enterprises, then 40 yuan of tax will be left in the local area. A comparison of which is more important can be seen why the five provincial governments in the south have been so active in coordinating the formation of rare earth associations.

Now the state has come forward to ask for the integration of rare earths, because it is the key to grasping the rare earth industry, and it is also the soft underbelly of all enterprises engaged in mining rights.

In order to exploit minerals, it is necessary to have mining rights, and this right is issued by the state on a uniform basis. Without mining rights, resources cannot be exploited, which is equivalent to blocking the qualification from the source.

In order to support local economic development, the 100 mining rights issued are basically concentrated in the hands of local enterprises, such as Gandu has more than 80 mining rights.

However, the current embarrassment is that Minmetals and Chinalco, which are representatives of central enterprises, do not have rare earth mining rights, and Baotou Steel, as a local state-owned enterprise, owns mining rights in the north, while mining rights in the south are scattered among local small and medium-sized enterprises.

However, as soon as the national integration order is issued, it means that all mining rights that will expire in two years may usher in a major reshuffle, and the mining rights of local enterprises may be uniformly collected and redistributed by the central government.

There are policies above, and there are countermeasures below.

Mineral resources are related to local economic development, and a one-size-fits-all rule will certainly not be enforced, and even if Minmetals and Chalco obtain mining rights, they will have to rely on local governments to handle the relocation and resettlement of land. Not to mention that Ganxi Province took the lead in setting up a provincial mining group, intending to unify the management of the province's mining licenses, so as to require the renewal of the mining license and act as a bargaining chip to attract investment.

In order to cooperate with the local government, the central enterprises must show sincerity to ensure the local tax share and implement the industrial chain project. Or the local government can put aside the central enterprises and do it on their own, set up a provincial mining group, and choose better partners to attract investment.

In addition, in addition to the mining license, another key is the rare earth separation and smelting license, through the separation and processing of raw materials from mining.

The national control of the rare earth separation and smelting industry is more relaxed, there is basically no market threshold access, and it is more prosperous. As long as you can engage in ore processing, no one will ask you what the nature of the enterprise is, and there are many private enterprises and even foreign joint ventures here.

It can be said that the rare earth industry involves various intricate relationships between the central and local governments, central and local enterprises, state-owned enterprises and private enterprises, and even state-owned and foreign capital.

The inauguration ceremony of the rare earth association of the five southern provinces held in Gandu is basically a consensus reached by the five provinces and decided to integrate the rare earth resources in the province first, and then use this as a bargaining chip to attract foreign investment. Regardless of central enterprises, private enterprises or foreign enterprises, as long as they comply with national policies, whoever can bring more benefits to the local government can become the guest of the scene, and of course, the possibility of independent development is not ruled out.

As a pioneer, Gandu has begun to integrate rare earth resources and is preparing to take all mining licenses into the city's ownership. Another major reason for the establishment of the association in Gandu is to publicize and promote the experience of mineral integration in Gandu.

All parties in the rare earth industry gathered in Gandu, Minmetals was the first to arrive, followed by Chinalco, the two central enterprises immediately started public relations activities for the five provincial governments, and other private enterprises and foreign capital with the background of listed companies also came, intending to seek business opportunities for rare earth integration.

Minmetals and Chinalco, by virtue of their status as central enterprises, directly connect with the provincial government, while private and foreign-funded enterprises with the background of listed companies sink to the grassroots level and negotiate with the prefectural and municipal governments to attract investment.

The integration of rare earth resources, in the end, how to change, the central government only gives the general direction, everyone is looking at the step, each showing their powers.

Among the many opponents, the central enterprises, local enterprises, private enterprises and even foreign enterprises can unanimously feel threatened, of course, is the newly established "Huaxia Rare Earth".

Naturally, other private enterprises will not be regarded by Minmetals and Chinalco, which are from central enterprises, but Zhonghua Group is the largest private group in the country, and its financial strength is strong enough to compete with central enterprises.

In 2008, Minmetals Group's annual revenue was 186.5 billion yuan and its profit was 6 billion yuan, Chinalco's total revenue was 126 billion yuan, and its profit was more than 2 billion yuan, while Zhonghua Group's total revenue was 290 billion yuan and its profit was 34.8 billion yuan. It is no exaggeration to say that Minmetals and Chinalco, the two major central enterprises, together are not the opponents of Zhonghua Group, of course, this is only a commercial consideration.

In the tide of 4 trillion yuan, many private enterprises have complained that they have been squeezed out of key upstream industries by state-owned enterprises, and this rare earth battle is a head-to-head confrontation between private enterprises and central enterprises and even state-owned enterprises.

"If even Zhonghua Group can't shake the interests guarded by the central enterprises, and can't break the invisible glass door and revolving door in front of private enterprises, then it is more just an empty word to say that the state encourages the development of the private economy. ”

The words of a private enterprise CEO reveal more intriguing information.

The rare earth controversy has been inadvertently pushed to the cusp, and the meaning behind it is no longer rare earth, but related to the real enjoyment of national treatment by private enterprises.

Han Hao did not expect that in order to maintain the leading position of new energy vehicles, he would enter the rare earth industry upstream, and inadvertently become a charge for private enterprises to attack the monopoly industry of state-owned enterprises.

When the private plane of the richest man in South Korea landed at Gandu Airport, it showed that the establishment of the rare earth association had reached a higher level, and it also indicated that the five southern provinces with rare earth resources had the confidence to sit on the ground and start the price.

There is no doubt that the main leaders of Ganxi Province personally received Han Hao, as a leader in the domestic business community, his influence has long gone beyond the scope of business. Huaxia Rare Earth has also been docked by the provincial government and enjoys the same treatment as central enterprises.

If Han Hao does not show up in Gandu, it means that the situation is still negotiable. If Han's richest man is present, the balance of competition will undoubtedly be in favor of the Zhonghua Group.

It's a good thing that there is competition, as soon as Han Hao's figure appeared, Minmetals and Chinalco agreed to the conditions that they were unwilling to relax before negotiating with the Ganxi provincial government.

It can be said that Ganxi Province is a model, and the other four provinces will use it to finalize their own rare earth development plans.

The two central enterprises have offered unexpected preferential conditions for the local government's demand for tax interception, as well as the establishment of local processing and smelting enterprises and the promise to solve problems such as the employment of the labor force of the villagers in the mining area. In addition, central enterprises also have the advantage that Zhonghua Group cannot achieve, that is, they can operate at a high level to help local governments get large projects that are in a hurry to start but have been unable to approve them for a long time, as an exchange for entering the local area.

In such a comparison, it seems that the two major central enterprises of Minmetals and Chinalco have the upper hand, and the newly established Huaxia Rare Earth is not two rivals in the above fields.

Huaxia Rare Earth looks like it is facing an unsolvable game.