Comprehensive Utilization and Sustainable Development of Bauxite in Northern Guizhou on a Background of Carbon Neutralization

Abstract

As a developing country, China is also a major producer and consumer of mineral resources. At present, China is still in a critical period of rapid development of industrialization and urbanization, which will inevitably lead to huge resource consumption. It is only 30 years between the peak carbon consumption and the timepoint planned to achieve the goal of carbon neutrality. Coming from a background of dual pressure in terms of the total amount and intensity of “carbon neutrality”, the development and utilization of mineral resources has become one of the important factors in affecting and realizing carbon neutrality in China, and comprehensive utilization has become increasingly important. There are abundant bauxite resources in northern Guizhou, more than 700 million tons, and an industrial resource chain could be built around bauxite. The ore-forming process of bauxite is very complex, and there are enrichment phenomena of other useful elements in the ore-bearing rock series, among which the enrichment of associated Ga, Li and rare earth elements is very obvious. It is of great economic and scientific significance to study the migration law of associated Ga, Li and rare earth elements and to find out whether these elements in bauxite have development value. On the basis of systematically collecting and sorting previous research results, this study carried out supplementary tests on some areas with insufficient data; summarized and studied the migration law of associated Ga, Li and rare earth elements in the Wuzhengdao bauxite deposit in northern Guizhou; and conducted a feasibility analysis on the development and utilization prospects of associated Ga, Li and rare earth elements.