Comparison and Analysis of Resource and Environmental Carrying Capacity of Typical Rare Earth Mining Areas in China

Rare earth is a non-renewable and important strategic resource, and China is rich in rare earth resources. However, the process of massive exploitation has caused the migration, diffusion transformation and accumulation of pollution sources, which in turn has a profound impact on the ecological environment of mining areas. Accurate evaluation of resource and environmental carrying capacity (RECC) is important for the green development of mining areas. In this paper, the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method based on AHP and entropy combination assignment method is used to study the RECC of mine area in terms of both support capacity and pressure. The Bayan Obo mine in Inner Mongolia; Longnan mine in Jiangxi; Weishan mine in Shandong; Mianning mine in Sichuan; Pingyuan mine in Guangdong; and Chongzuo mine in Guangxi, which have typical representatives, were selected for the horizontal comparison. The results show that, with the exception of Bayan Obo, the support index is greater than the pressure from mining and human activities in all the mining areas. The RECC index ranks for each mining area were: Bayan Obo > Longnan > Mianning > Pingyuan > Weishan > Chongzuo. In addition, an obstacle degree model was used to identify and extract the main factors affecting the ecological quality of the mine site. The ratio of investment in environmental pollution control to GDP is the most important factor limiting the improvement of the mine support index. The results of this paper were given for the different evolutionary processes and differences of RECC in typical rare earth mining areas, which could provide valuable references for achieving the green and comprehensive development of rare earth industry.