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Sydney (AFP) Dec 29, 2010 Australian rare earths miner Lynas on Wednesday said China had slashed its exports quota for the lucrative metals used in flat screens and hybrid cars, driving a 12 percent jump in its share price. Lynas said China had cut export guidance for the first half of 2011 by about 35 percent to 14,446 tonnes, significantly reducing world supplies of the resource critical to digital-age goods such as iPods and plasma TVs. "Export quotas continue to be a tool for the Chinese government to limit the export of China's strategic resource," Lynas said in a statement to the stock exchange, citing an announcement by China's ministry of commerce. "The 2011 regulatory constraints of rare earths supply from China, which supplies of 90 percent of rare earths to the world, is a significant restraint in product available for export." Shares in Lynas, which will become Australia's first rare earths producer, rocketed 12.35 percent to 1.82 Australian dollars (1.84 US) at around noon (0100 GMT). Washington has urged China, which holds a near-monopoly on global production, not to use rare earths exports as a political "weapon" after it restricted flow of the commodities to Japan this year during a territorial row. China has denied any political motivation and said Beijing was restricting mining due to environmental concerns, affecting domestic companies as well as foreign buyers. Lynas said growth in China's domestic demand for the glowing or highly magnetic metals was likely behind the quota cut, coupled with a decrease in production. "This provides additional opportunity for Lynas to meet the supply deficit outside of China," said Lynas chairman Nicholas Curtis. "Lynas owns the richest known deposit of rare earths outside of China, at Mount Weld in Western Australia, and the company is progressing well to be in a position to commence production in Q3 (the third quarter) 2011." Used in mobile phones and electronic devices as well as hybrid cars, solar panels and wind turbines, demand for rare earths has skyrocketed in recent years, with experts warning of a supply crunch as early as next year. Lynas, among five companies with proven Australian deposits, according to www.australianrareearths.com, will next year shift some 11,000 tonnes from a new plant in Malaysia, doubling output to 22,000 tonnes a year by end-2012.
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China setting up rare earth industry groupBeijing (AFP) Dec 28, 2010 China is setting up a rare earth industry group that will lead price negotiations with foreign buyers, organisers said Tuesday, as Beijing tightens its grip on exports of the precious metals. The China Rare Earth Industry Association is expected to be launched in May and has already recruited 93 member firms, Wang Caifeng, who will set up the group, told reporters on the sidelines of an indu ... read more |
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