China pledges bigger quotas for rare earth mining and exports – by Staff (Asia Times – November 8, 2018)

http://www.atimes.com/

Beijing has again sought to refute rumors about its plans to exploit its stranglehold on the global supply of rare-earth metals. It also denies any intention to slash the mining of the 17 chemically-similar elements out of its ore deposits as well as their exports to major overseas markets.

The Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has pledged that the country’s planned mining and output of rare-earth minerals will continue to rise.

It further states that global manufacturers of magnets, catalysts, alloys and electronic devices can rest assured that there would never be any policy-driven curb on supplies.

Beijing has taken a reassuring tone after Reuters speculated last week that the country had capped its rare-earth minerals production to 45,000 tons in the second half of this year, citing data from Dutch market research firm Adamas Intelligence.

Reuters noted that the reduction was meant to ensure a fat markup for Chinese miners and exporters. In response, Xinhua quoted the industry and information ministry as saying earlier this week that China would raise rare-earth mining quotas for 2018 from 105,000 tons to as much as 120,000 tons and the melting quota from 100,000 tons to 115,000 tons.

For the rest of this article: http://www.atimes.com/article/china-pledges-bigger-quotas-for-rare-earth-mining-and-exports/