——资源过度开发。经过半个多世纪的超强度开采，中国稀土资源保有储量及保障年限不断下降，主要矿区资源加速衰减，原有矿山资源大多枯竭。包头稀土矿主要矿区资源仅剩三分之一，南方离子型稀土矿储采比已由20年前的50降至目前的15。南方离子型稀土大多位于偏远山区，山高林密，矿区分散，矿点众多，监管成本高、难度大，非法开采使资源遭到了严重破坏。采富弃贫、采易弃难现象严重，资源回收率较低，南方离子型稀土资源开采回收率不到50%，包头稀土矿采选利用率仅10%。
——生态环境破坏严重。稀土开采、选冶、分离存在的落后生产工艺和技术，严重破坏地表植被，造成水土流失和土壤污染、酸化，使得农作物减产甚至绝收。离子型中重稀土矿过去采用落后的堆浸、池浸工艺，每生产1吨稀土氧化物产生约2000吨尾砂，目前虽已采用较为先进的原地浸矿工艺，但仍不可避免地产生大量的氨氮、重金属等污染物，破坏植被，严重污染地表水、地下水和农田。轻稀土矿多为多金属共伴生矿，在冶炼、分离过程中会产生大量有毒有害气体、高浓度氨氮废水、放射性废渣等污染物。一些地方因为稀土的过度开采，还造成山体滑坡、河道堵塞、突发性环境污染事件，甚至造成重大事故灾难，给公众的生命健康和生态环境带来重大损失。而生态环境的恢复与治理，也成为一些稀土产区的沉重负担。
- Excessive exploitation of rare earth resources. After more than 50 years of excessive mining, China's rare earth reserves have kept declining and the years of guaranteed rare earth supply have been reducing. The decline of rare earth resources in major mining areas is accelerating, as most of the original resources are depleted. In Baotou, only one-third of the original volume of rare earth resources is available in the main mining areas, and the reserve-extraction ratio of ion-absorption rare earth mines in China's southern provinces has declined from 50 two decades ago to the present 15. Most of the southern ion-absorption rare earth deposits are located in remote mountainous areas. There are so many mines scattering over a large area that it is difficult and costly to monitor their operation. As a result, illegal mining has severely depleted local resources, and mines rich in reserves and easy to exploit are are favored over the others, resulting in a low recovery rate of the rare earth resources. Less that 50 percent of such resources are recovered in ion-absorption rare earth mines in southern China, and only ten percent of the Baotou reserves are dressed and utilized.
- Severe damage to the ecological environment. Outdated production processes and techniques in the mining, dressing, smelting and separating of rare earth ores have severely damaged surface vegetation, caused soil erosion, pollution, and acidification, and reduced or even eliminated food crop output. In the past, the outmoded tank leaching and heap leaching techniques were employed at ion-absorption middle and heavy rare earth mines, creating 2,000 tonnes of tailings for the production of every tonne of REO (rare earth oxide). Although more advanced in-situ leaching method has been widely adopted, large quantities of ammonium nitrogen, heavy metal and other pollutants are being produced, resulting in the destruction of vegetation and severe pollution of surface water, ground water and farmland. Light rare earth mines usually contain many associated metals, and large quantities of toxic and hazardous gases, waste water with high concentration of ammonium nitrogen and radioactive residues are generated during the processes of smelting and separating. In some places, the excessive rare earth mining has resulted in landslides, clogged rivers, environmental pollution emergencies, and even major accidents and disasters, causing great damage to people's safety and health, and the ecological environment. At the same time, the restoration and improvement of the environment has also heavily burdened some rare earth production areas.
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