Rare earth elements (REE) are widely used in high technologies, medical devices, and military defense systems, and are especially indispensable in emerging clean energy. Along with the growing market of green energy in the next decades, global demand for REE will increase continuously, which will put great pressure on the current REE supply chain. The global REE production is currently mainly concentrated in China and Australia; they respectively contributed 85% and 10% in 2016. However, there are 178 deposits widely distributed in the world, and reported REE resources as of 2017 totaled 478 megaton (Mt) rare earth oxides (REO); 58% of these deposits contained exceed 0.1 Mt REO; 59 deposits have been technically assessed. These resources could sustain the global REE production at the current pace for more than a hundred years. It is noted that REE demand from clean technologies will reach 51.9 thousand metric tons (kt) REO in 2030, Nd and Dy, respectively, comprising 75% and 9%, while these two elements comprise 15% and 0.52% of the global REE resources, respectively. This indicates that Nd and Dy will strongly influence the development of exploring new REE projects and clean technologies in the next decades.

This paper expounded the status quo of the development and utilization of mineral resources and the generation and development of circular economy. It revealed the connotation of mining circular economy and cleared the specific content of 3R principle. On this basis, it discussed the model of mining circular economy in enterprise, industry park and society level according to the present situation of mineral resources recycling in China. Then with the development of circular economy in enterprise level as an example to construct a system of circular economy at coal mine enterprise

Rare earth elements (REEs) provide important properties to clean energy technologies such as wind turbine and hybrid electric vehicles. The global REE demand will grow rapidly during the global transformation toward a greener economy in the next decades. This high demand will require a steady supply chain in the long run. China has a monopoly of global REE production and extraction. The global REE supply chain runs the risk of disruption along with Chinese REE policy evolution. To overcome this supply chain vulnerability, new strategies and measures should be adopted to satisfy future REE supply/demand. There is a pressing need to explore REE deposits, develop efficient REE recycling techniques from end-of-life products, improve substitution technologies for REEs, and reduce the number of critical REEs used in devices. Such measures are facing significant challenges due to environmental factors and an unbalanced market, and overcoming them requires efforts from government and REE companies.