Rare Earths: the Key to a Great Power

Rare earths are precious strategic resources. WorldCom Group took a cross-border stake in rare earth companies. Not long after Shi Yunfeng became the general manager of Yonghui Rare Earth Company, the rare earth industry was undergoing a sudden change. He and Chairman Wei Shengfa had a sharp conflict over the country's policy of severely rectifying the chaos in the rare earth industry and their corporate business philosophy. Shi Yunfeng advocated responding to the national call, changing the company's business direction, stopping the mining of rare earth resources and the export of primary products, and fully developing new rare earth materials. Wei Shengfa was not interested in this and stubbornly resisted national policies, putting the company in a very dangerous situation. In order to stop Wei Shengfa's wrong behavior, Shi Yunfeng proposed that the company's two major shareholders make a bet. Because the chips were tempting enough, Wei Shengfa readily agreed to Shi Yunfeng's bet. Under extremely difficult circumstances, Shi Yunfeng relied on his wisdom and management experience, as well as the support of his parent company Sitong Group, to join forces with scientific research units. Not only did he develop new rare earth permanent magnet materials and achieve industrial production in a relatively short period of time, but he also successively developed a variety of new rare earth materials, putting Yonghui Company on a path of sustainable development with the production of rare earth materials as its main industry. Wei Shengfa was unwilling to lose the bet, and his illegal behavior was a time bomb for Yonghui Company. Shi Yunfeng expelled him from the board of directors through equity changes, and cooperated with regulatory authorities to crack down on rare earth smuggling, fulfilling the responsibility of a conscientious entrepreneur to protect the country's strategic resources. The work demonstrates Shi Yunfeng's overall view of the industry and his sense of responsibility on principled issues.