China to tighten control on rare earth output and exports
17, August 2009

Source: Metal-Pages.com

BEIJING (Metal-Pages) 17-Aug-09. The Chinese government will tighten its administration on production and exports of rare earths in the next six years, according to a “Rare Earths Industry Development Plan in 2009-2015” drafted by the country’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

“Mining of rare earths should seriously abide by production quotas, which should be 130,000-150,000 tonnes per year for rare earth concentrate and 120,000-150,000 tpy for separation products during the period of 2009-2015,” the Development Plan said.

Beijing will also restrict exports of rare earths in the next six years, with the Development Plan stressing that the annual export quota will be below 35,000 tpy and exports of dysprosium, terbium, thulium, lutetium and yttrium will be prohibited.

Industry restructuring is also highlighted in the Development Plan as the government will support large sized producers to expand and eliminate small ones with poor management and pollution controls.

The number of rare earth smelting and separation producers will be reduced to 20 from 100 and a qualified producer using light rare earths as raw material must have more than 8,000 tpy of capacity for rare earth oxides, the Development Plan stated.

Any new projects for rare earth concentrate production will not be approved during the period and any new projects for smelting and separation must be submitted to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology rather than provincial authorities.

China is the world dominant producer of rare earths and sits on half of the reserves in the world. The majority of production is located in Inner Mongolia, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Hunan, Guangxi, Fujian and Sichuan.

During the period of 2009-2015, China will develop light rare earths primarily in Inner Mongolia and Sichuan and medium and heavy rare earths in Jiangxi, Guangdong and Fujian, the Development Plan said.