Mining Weekly reported that, despite reports of numerous rare earth projects ramping to counter the Chinese global monopoly on the rare earth market there is little actual movement, which some are blaming on a lack of funding.

As quoted in the market report:

"He pointed to a time three years ago that saw a big surge in new projects coming to the fore when rare earths prices shot up as a result of China’s clamping down on rare earths export (which in some commentators’ views was a political move), but said most of these had now stalled owing to a lack of funding to move them further up the value curve."


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According to Russian newspaper Kommersant, ICT Group, controlled by Russian tycoon Alexander Nesis, and state-owned company Rostec will aim to put the deposit, one of the largest repositories of rare earth elements in the world, into production.

Under the deal, ICT Group will take a controlling 50 percent interest in the project, with Rostec owning 25 percent and the remaining 25 percent controlled by an as-yet unnamed investment fund.

The 250-square-kilometer field, located in the Russian region of Yakutia, is estimated to contain 150 million tonnes of rare earths reserves, including ytrium, niobium oxides, scandium and terbium.

International Business Times reported that the deposit contains a whopping 12 percent of the world’s total rare earth reserves, with proven reserves of 154 million tonnes, and possible reserves exceeding all the rest of the world’s reserves combined.

Assuming that the deposit could be turned into a producing mine or set of mines, it would most certainly pose a challenge to the current rare earth monopoly enjoyed by China, which produces roughly 95 percent of the rare metals used in everything from missile guidance systems to cellular phones and renewable energy applications.

Russia currently only accounts for about two percent of global production and consumption of rare earths; putting the Tomtor deposit into production would see Russia putting significantly more skin in the game.

The only two companies currently in a position to challenge China are Lynas (ASX:LYC), which recently began processing rare earths at its plant in Malaysia shipped from its Mount Weld mine in Australia, and Molycorp (NYSE:MCP), which processes rare earths from its Mountain Pass mine in California.

Meanwhile China, which in 2010 launched a campaign to curb illegal over-production of rare earths elements that was depressing the prices of rare earth oxides, admitted on Friday that its program is not working.

Su Bo, China’s vice-minister of industry, said on the ministry’s website that ”Problems in the industry that have accumulated over the long-term have still not been fundamentally resolved,” adding the following explanation:

“Unplanned exploitation and production of rare earths has affected the normal workings of the market, and illegally-produced rare earth products have reached downstream consumers through a variety of channels or been smuggled abroad, leading to a continuous decline in prices.”

Rare earth oxides enjoyed record prices in 2011 but have since slumped, mostly due to the global economic slowdown, especially in China which is both the world’s largest REE consumer and producer. Overproduction in China has exacerbated the situation.


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The Ministry of Land and Resources decided to execute inspections on rare earth exploration and construction project rare earth recycling.

The MLR set three targets in the Notice Regarding the Implementation of Inspections on Rare Earth Exploration and Construction Project Rare Earth Recycling recently. First, it will inspect illegal rare earth exploration, putting emphasis on illegal mining and exploration without permits, and inhibiting mines that have been closed in previous mineral inspections from restarting. Second, it will strictly inspect rare earth mine exploration, investigating illegal mining. Third, it will inspect rare earth recycling, examining railway, highway, industrial zone, city and town expansion rare earth recycling projects, and distribution of those projects, eliminating illegal recycling, and rectifying the projects which do not meet environmental protection and safety requirements.

The Notice affirms major rare earth producing regions will make inspection plans and implement inspections during May and June, rectifying and reform immediately once any problem is found out. Provincial land and resources departments will examine the inspections to assure the inspections produce concrete results.

The Notice emphasizes the inspections will be implemented by local governments, with the cooperation with environmental protection and safety supervision departments, standardizing rare earth exploration and construction project rare earth recycling, and improving long-term mechanism.


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Rare earth prices have remained sluggish recently, with lanthanum and cerium unsellable, causing profitability of rare earth to decrease sharply.

Rare earth prices reversed their increases in August 2011. As demand for magnetic materials improved since early 2013, didymium prices stabilized, and once rebounded in Q1, hovering around RMB 350,000/mt. Gao Yuxin, an analyst of Ruidow, reported that mainstream prices of didymium were between RMB 370,000-375,000/mt last week, with traded prices lower. That is because didymium supply was ample, but purchases were modest due to low prices and decreasing orders and enterprises cutting production.

Neodymium oxide prices once exceeded RMB 1.40 million/mt in 2011.

Surveys revealed that rare earth prices fell noticeably during the past week. 

Su Bo, Minister of the Industry and Information Technology, proposed at the China Rare Earth Industry Association member meeting that China should construct large rare earth groups.  As soon as the news was reported, rare earth permanent magnet individual shares rose across the board.

New energy automobile is a major consumer of rare earth permanent magnet. Global new energy automobile sales reached 200,000 units, and more and more new automobile types are accepted by consumers, with the development of new energy and hybrid electric vehicle boosting demand for high-end neodymium-iron-boron significantly. But the purchase and utilization of new energy automobiles still need support from the government and people, so the growth of rare earth permanent magnet depend on the environmental awareness of the government and people. Rare earth permanent magnet orders will increase in the short term, and medium-and-heavy rare earth value reassessment investments are optimistic in the long run. Given the energy savings and environmental protection policy, the new energy automobile industry has a prosperous outlook. If new energy automobile and hybrid electric vehicle grow rapidly, the growth rate of global demand for high-end neodymium-iron-boron will reach 17%, and will drive total demand growth to 13%. Low-end rare earth permanent magnet capacity has been in severe surplus, while the low-end capacity fell short of demand. The listed companies that have opportunities to receive high-end product orders will benefit from the growth of neodymium-iron-boron brought by the development of new energy automobile.


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In response to the supply restrictions of rare earth metals, critical in many modern electronics, rare earth magnets are brought up by the international consortium as new solutions to help with the demand from European industry.

One of the consortiums aims is to dramatically increase the amount of rare earth materials recovered and remanufactured from existing waste streams. The project brings together European industry and academia across the supply chain to develop the innovative technologies, business models and market information required to exploit this valuable resource reducing dependence on primary sources.

NFC Southern Rare Earth (Xinfeng) Company’s rare earth separation project was approved by the NDRC.

The project will be constructed in Huilong Town, Xinfeng County, Shaoguan city, Guangdong, and use mature cascade extraction separation technology to produce rare earth oxide. The rare earth separation project will have a capacity of 7,000 mt/yr, and produce 6,531.7 mt of rare earth oxide. It was invested RMB 612 million, with capital fund of RMB 300 million, which accounts for 49% of total investments. The capital needed will be raised by NFC Southern Rare Earth itself, and the remainder non-capital fund will be provided by bank loans. The company stated it will accelerate the construction of the project according to related regulations by central and local governments.


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Baotou is rich in light rare earth reserves, while Ganzhou, Jiangxi province is the largest medium-to-heavy rare earth producing region in the world.

Ganzhou has made great strides in rare earth consolidation.

Meanwhile, Ganzhou still needs to enhance consolidation of rare earth smelting and separation. With regard to industry consolidation and building large rare earth groups, further cooperation between local governments, SOEs and local capital is demanded.

Rare earth enterprises including China Minmetals, Chalco, Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Rare-earth and Guangdong Rising Nonferrous Metals all want to gain market shares of in ion-absorbing type rare earth in Ganzhou.

China Minmetals is the most powerful rare earth enterprise of all mentioned above.

Minmetals purchased Dingnan Dahua and Ganxian Hongjin in 2008, which are domestic largest and most advanced ion-absorbing type rare earth enterprises and produce the products with most stable quality, so as to form China Minmetals Rare Earth Company. Its rare earth separation and smelting capacity reached 9,000 mt/yr, with the capacity of  Dingnan Dahua and Ganxian Hongjin 4,400 mt/yr and 4,600 mt/yr, respectively.

A number of large rare earth groups will be constructed this year.


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