THE government would soon publish rules to strengthen supervision of the country s rare earth industry in a move that was likely to drastically change the landscape of the sector, China Securities Journal reported yesterday.
New rules would require Chinese rare earth producers to make better use of natural resources, reduce pollution, control the scale of mining and adopt more advanced mining technology, said the newspaper, quoting unidentified government sources.
The regulations would also encourage consolidation of China s rare earth industry, it said.
The International Business Daily reported Tuesday that the country was likely to create a rare earth industry association in May to help its miners obtain more pricing power in the global market.
China, which owns one-third of the world s rare earth reserves but produces about 97 percent of the global supply of the metals, cut its export quotas by 35 percent for the first half of 2011 versus a year earlier, saying it wanted to conserve reserves and protect the environment.
(SD-Agencies)
