In the ten years since the Panxi Strategic Resource Innovation and Development Pilot Zone was approved for establishment, what has Panzhihua gained?

The unique resources of the Panxi Rift Valley are gifts from nature-there are proved reserves of titanium in the world, vanadium in the country, rare earth resources in the country, as well as rare and precious metals such as chromium, cobalt, nickel, gallium and scandium. Panzhihua is thriving because of the mine.

In 2013, the National Development and Reform Commission approved the establishment of the Panxi Strategic Resources Innovation and Development pilot Zone (hereinafter referred to as "Panxi Experimental area"), which aims to explore useful experiences for the scientific utilization of resources and industrial development in resource-rich areas. This is also the only pilot area for comprehensive utilization of resources approved to be established throughout the country.

As the core area of Panxi experimental area, what achievements have Panzhihua achieved in the development and utilization of resources in the past 10 years? Recently, the reporter visited enterprises and projects to find answers.

Tackle key problems

Break through more than 30 key core technologies in the field

A few days ago, the reporter walked into the rail and beam factory of Panzhihua Vanadium Co., Ltd. of Panzhihua Iron and Steel Group, and red rails were "running" on the production line, which is the production site of 75kg / m rail for the fourth generation high-performance heavy-haul line of Panzhihua Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. This type of rail, which was only 75 meters long a few years ago, has now jumped into the "100-meter rail family", which is the result of the continuous promotion of scientific and technological innovation in Panzhihua Iron and Steel Co.

Since the start of the construction of Panxi Experimental area, Panzhihua Iron and Steel Company has accounted for 27 of the 42 major scientific and technological projects undertaken by Panzhihua City. Scientific and technological innovation has also opened up overseas markets for Panzhihua Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. Today, Pangang rails are exported to 36 countries and regions. During the National Day this year, Indonesia's Yawan high-speed railway was officially opened, and all 38000 tons of railway rails were provided by Panzhihua Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. This is the first large-scale export of long-sized rail for Chinese standard high-speed railway.

According to the "White Paper on Scientific and technological achievements of Panxi Strategic Resources Innovation and Development Experimental Zone (Panzhihua) in the past 10 years (2013-2022)" recently released by Panzhihua City, Panzhihua has implemented a total of 42 projects in 6 batches of major scientific and technological key projects in Panzhihua Experimental Zone, with a total fund of 498 million yuan. We have successfully broken through more than 30 key core technologies in more than 30 fields, of which 10 have reached the international advanced level, 7 have been pioneered by China, 16 national and provincial scientific and technological progress awards have been awarded, 145 invention patents have been authorized, and 0.7% of the country's iron and steel output has driven more than 80% of the country's domestic titanium raw materials and 27% of the world's vanadium products.

Over the past 10 years, Panzhihua has continuously strengthened the ecological construction of scientific and technological innovation, relying on the Panxi experimental area. According to the data of the statistical monitoring report on scientific and technological innovation in Sichuan Province in 2022, the comprehensive level index of scientific and technological innovation in Panzhihua is 62.51%, ranking fourth in the province; the proportion of expenditure on Renewamp D in GDP is 1.62%, ranking fourth in the province; and the number of invention patents per 10,000 population is 21.7, ranking second in the province.

Agglomeration

The industry chain of vanadium and titanium is constantly expanding and extending.

At the workshop of Panzhihua Wuyue Technology Co., Ltd., workers are busy producing standard titanium alloy prosthetic parts, which are supplied with orders from Taiwan. Qin Meiling, chairman of Wuyue Technology, which settled in Panzhihua in 2017, said it was the "best choice": "there is a complete vanadium and titanium industry chain, and the application scenarios of vanadium, titanium and other products are constantly expanding."

It is reported that the company has developed more than 20 kinds of products, such as titanium alloy prosthetics and standard parts, titanium alloy wheelchairs, titanium daily necessities and so on. "recently, we are working with a number of units to develop an intelligent climbing wheelchair that can locate and measure heart rate, blood pressure, pulse and other functions." Qin Meiling is very confident about the future.

The reporter learned that Panzhihua vanadium and titanium industry has been included in the first batch of pilot industries with distinctive advantages in the province. The total output value of Panzhihua vanadium and titanium industry reached 44.7 billion yuan in 2022. The output of titanium concentrate, vanadium pentoxide, vanadium alloy, sponge titanium, titanium dioxide and titanium materials accounted for 81%, 30%, 19%, 17%, 13% and 7% of the country, respectively. A complete industrial chain from vanadium titanium magnetite mining and smelting to deep processing of vanadium titanium products has been formed.

According to the relevant planning of Panzhihua City, the key incremental projects of vanadium and titanium industry under construction within three years will be completed and put into production within 2024, and the construction of industrial extension chain and strong chain project has achieved preliminary results. By 2027, the total output value of vanadium and titanium industry will reach more than 100 billion yuan, basically building a world-class vanadium and titanium industrial base with reasonable layout, outstanding brand, high level of intelligence, green, low-carbon and sustainable development.

Fully stimulate the momentum of green development

Recently, the reporter saw in the 200000-ton battery-grade iron phosphate and lithium iron phosphate project in Yizhishan Industrial Park, Baima Industrial Park, Miyi County, that the main body of the project has been completed and workers are carrying out equipment installation and construction.

The project is a new energy storage material industry with a total investment of 5 billion yuan to turn the waste by-product ferrous sulfate produced during the production of titanium dioxide by sulfuric acid process in Panxi area into a treasure to produce lithium battery cathode materials iron phosphate and lithium iron phosphate, which is the main raw material for power batteries of new energy vehicles.

The project will be built in three phases. After all the project is completed and put into operation, it will have an annual production capacity of 200000 tons of iron phosphate and 200000 tons of lithium iron phosphate, with an annual output value of about 19 billion yuan. Yuan Hui, general manager of the project, said that at present, equipment installation and other work are being carried out in the first phase of the 50,000-ton iron phosphate project, and commissioning and commissioning of the equipment will be carried out in January next year.

Over the past 10 years, based on the advantage of resource endowment, Panzhihua has actively expanded the new track for industrial development and promoted the five-in-one, complementary and coordinated development of "water and scenery hydrogen storage" as a whole. Focus on the development of vanadium battery "equipment manufacturing + materials (1: 1)" characteristic industrial cluster, export complete sets of vanadium battery energy storage equipment products, and build "vanadium power capital of China". Synchronously develop lithium / sodium energy storage, hydrogen storage, pumped energy storage and other related energy storage industries, build a "1N" energy storage industry development system, and inject strong green development momentum into urban transformation and development.

We want not only Jinshan and Silver Mountains, but also green waters and green mountains. Panzhihua also issued a series of policy documents such as opinions on the implementation of the elimination of backward production capacity, actively promoting the total emission reduction of major atmospheric pollutants. During the 13th five-year Plan period, the city's key sulfur dioxide projects reduced emissions by 21499.49 tons, accounting for 26.59 percent; nitrogen oxides key projects reduced emissions by 6385.34 tons, accounting for 23.34 percent; and volatile organic compounds were reduced by 3502.76 tons, and the excellent and good rate of air quality was stable at about 97 percent.