China National Crackdown On Illigal Rare Earth OperationsThis my friends as been a major reason for the recent price increases for tungsten and other rare earth metals ... GO CHINA GO !!
24 Jul 2013
by Metal-Pages
Bolder steps against illegal rare earth operations likely to support prices – report
Crackdown spreads
BEIJING (Metal-Pages) 24-Jul-13. China’s Ministry of Industrial and Information Technology (MIIT) looks set to cooperate with many other government agencies in its national crackdown on illegal rare earth operations, according to a report by Shanghai Securities News.
MIIT will inspect illegal rare earth mining, smelting and separating plants and increase punishments against those breaking the law.
Rare earth enterprises are encouraged to coordinate the rare earth special invoice system and mining quotas, which is likely to assist the aims of the crackdown.
Ganzhou city, Jiangxi province launched its own crackdown on illegal operations in June, which has pushed up rare earth prices markedly during the past month.
Recently, local government in the area asked its subordinate agencies to get tough on rare earth producers who illegally occupy forest lands in order to exploit rare earth resources.
Sources said that the campaign is likely to spread into Baotou in the near future, which will force more producers to halt operations.
Market sources believe that the government action again illegal rare earth operations will support the recent price rebound even though downstream consumer buying is less active than expected.
-By Margaret Xue in Beijing (
margaret@metal-pages.asia)