Abstract: The porosity ration of weathered crust elution-deposited rare earth ores is the main factor that affects the leaching results and the stability of the ore body. To determine the strength characteristics of weathered crust elution-deposited rare earth ores under different porosity ratios, six groups of rare earth minerals were reconstituted, and direct shear tests were performed for different samples. The effect of pore evolution on the shear strength of the orebody was studied, and the mechanism of the influence of porosity ratio on cohesion and internal friction angle was revealed. The results show that the unsaturated rare earth ores with different porosity ratios correspond to different shear strengths. The relation between shear stress and shear displacement was summarized as parabolic type based on the experimental data, and the relation between the porosity ratio and the shear strength index was established. The mechanism analysis shows that with an increase in the porosity ratio, the effect of the bonded water film effect gradually weakens, the number of the contact points reduces, and the shear strength of the minerals reduces.