4.10.2.1 Present State of Production

China is the first country that discovered and used natural borax. Before the 1950s, however, its production was very limited and the borax needed mainly relied on imports. Only by the 1950s did China begin to construct boron mines and develop boron processing industry on a large scale. Through the implementation of several five-year plans, a complete development system from boron ore mining to intensive processing has been formed. Progress has been made in mining technology, ore dressing tests and total use of ore. More than 30 fine chemical products have been produced, which can basically meet the demands of related industries of China. According to the statistics, up to 1997 China possesses 60 boron mines,

Table 4.10.1 Boron, borax and boric acid productions in China (¡Á10³ t )

Data source:Yearbook of Chemical Industry of China.

35 borax plants and 10 boric acid plants. The productions of borax ore, borax and boric acid in China in recent years are shown in Table 4.10.1. In comparison with other countries, China ranked fifth in boron mineral production.

4.10.2.2Distribution of Production

Liaoning, Jilin and Tibet are China's main production bases of boron minerals. Backbone enterprises of boron products are also essentially concentrated there. In recent years, as borax and boric acid products sell well on the markets, borax and boric acid plants have been set up in most boron mines in these areas, e.g. the Kuandian mine, No. 501 mine, Wengquangou mine and Fengcheng mine in Liaoning and the Ji'an mine in Jilin. Besides, the Yingkou Chemical Plant, Kaiyuan Chemical Plant, Liaoyang Yejian Chemical Plant, Yingkou Fengshui General Chemical Plant, Fengcheng Chemical Fertilizer Plant, Kuandian Borax Plant, Tonghua Meida Chemical Co. Ltd. and Maodanjiang No. 2 Chemical Plant use local boron ore as raw materials to produce borax and/or boric acid.

Besides the above-mentioned areas, there are also a number of borax and/or boric acid plants of varying scale in other areas, e.g. the Shanghai Jiading Borax Plant, Zhangjiakou Chemical Plant and Da Qaidam Chemical Plant at Haixi, Qinghai Province(Table 4.10.2).

Table 4.10.2 Mainstay enterprises of the boron industry in China