Problems Faced by China's Boron Industry      

Comparing with other countries' boron industries, China's boron industry faces the following major problems.

1. Resources shortage   

Globally, most of boron reserves are distributed in the western hemisphere, especially in the United States. China's proven reserve of boron ores is around 47 million tons of boron oxide. The boron ores in China are scarce, low-grade and hard to process. Due to lack of unified mining plan and effective management and supervision in mining process, China has a serious waste of resources in boron ore exploration. With annual large output by the current outdated mining methods, it is estimated that about 10 years later, ascharite resources in some places of China will be depleted.

2. Most factories are in small-scale   

Capacity concentration is the development trend of the international boron industry. For example, the annual boric acid and borate output of the U.S. Borax Inc. alone reaches more than 1 million tons. However, in China, enterprises engaged in borax mining and boron chemicals manufacturing are usually of small scale and in dispersed distribution. At present, there are more than 30 borax producers in China, with a total capacity of around 500 000 t/a and an average capacity of less than 20 000 t/a. Among them, only 15 have an annual output of over 10 000 tons and they are mainly located in Liaoning, Jilin and Sichuan provinces. Also, China's boric acid producers are generally of small scale, with a total capacity of over 200 000 t/a and an average capacity of less than 5 000 t/a.

3. Irrational product portfolio     

In the U.S., there are over 150 types of boron-containing products available. Japan lacks boron resources and relies heavily on the import of boron-containing raw materials. But it developed rapidly in the production of boron-containing fine chemicals and new materials and has produced nearly 100 types of borides.
    The product portfolio of China's boron industry lags much behind the international advanced level. Excepting borax and boric acid, China can produce only 40 types of boron-containing compounds, far from being able to meet the needs of China's emerging and high-tech industries. Therefore, China has to import the needed boride products, especially the high value-added boron-containing compounds, from abroad each year. And the import volume of boric acid shows an increasing trend year by year. In 2008, China imported about 206 000 tons of boric acid, an increase of 8.84% year on year.

4. Serious pollution    

In recent years, although China's boron industry has made some progresses in waste treatment, its pollution is still quite serious. With the current production process, manufacturing one ton of borax will generate about 3 tons of boron-containing mud. The pile up of a large amount of boron-containing mud in open air causes serious pollution.