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FYI: Rare Earths China-North America

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Molycorp and Rare Element Resources to Share Burden of Global Rare Earth Production

Rare earth stocks have had a relatively successful week after China's largest rare-earth producer said Tuesday that it would suspend smelting and separation work for a month to use its market power to rally falling rare earth prices. Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Rare-Earth (Group) Hi-Tech, which accounts for nearly half of the world's light rare-earth production, said that the move was aimed at "balancing supply and demand."
NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - Oct 21, 2011) - North American rare earth explorers are expected to get a boost going forward as China loosens its control on the sector. Presently China has about one-third of global rare earth deposits but produces about 95 percent of the world's supply. Recent statements from China's government and the nation's largest producers hint that China hopes other countries will share the burden of rare earth production after depending on China's overmined deposits for a decade. The Bedford Report examines the Rare Earth Elements Industry and provides stock research on Molycorp, Inc. (: MCP) and Rare Element Resources Limited (: REE) (TSX: RES).
Baotou's one-month suspension would remove about 5,000 metric tons of rare earth output from the global market this year, the Royal Bank of Scotland estimates.
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Li Zhong, the vice-general manager of top producer Baotou Steel Rare-Earth Hi-Tech Holding, told a conference organised by Metal Pages that China's role as the dominant global supplier of rare earths will gradually come to an end as the industry focuses more on the domestic market. Zhong argues that it is now "unrealistic" to rare earth prices to fall back to previous levels as Beijing tightens the sector.
According to Reuters, most of China's rare earth prices remained unchanged last week from two weeks ago, but a few in the complex fell -- a sign that the industry is still in a correction cycle from sky-high levels seen earlier this year after Beijing tightened controls over production and mining.