China issues guideline to promote healthy development of rare earth industry

08:16, May 20, 2011

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China's State Council on Thursday issued a national guideline that aims to promote sustainable and healthy development of the country's rare earth industry.

China will take effective measures to strengthen the management over the sector and speed up transforming the development pattern of the industry in order to protect and properly use rare earth resources, the guideline stated.

The guideline, posted on the central government's website, www.gov.cn, lists a slew of problems that severely affect the sector's healthy development, including illegal mining, excessively expanding smelting and extracting capacities, environmental damage, and disorder in exports.

According to the government's latest requirement, the country will strictly regulate industrial access, improve management over output plans, and beef up regulations concerning exports. The government will also expedite the creation and revision of relevant laws and regulations pertaining to the sector's management.

Special campaigns will be launched to crack down on illegal mining activities and excessive production, and greater efforts will be made to combat practices that pollute the environment and damage the ecology. The campaigns will also target illegal exports and smuggling of rare earths, the guideline said.

China implements a quota system for rare earth exports. In a move to further streamline exports, the Ministry of Commerce and General Administration of Customs on Thursday jointly announced the inclusion of rare earth ferroalloys in the export quota system.
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