BEIJING (Scrap Monster):  In a bid to optimize the country’s domestic rare earth industry, the Chinese administration has approved the merger plan submitted by six major rare earth companies. The announcement released by the Ministry of Land and Resources also stated that the full year mining quota for rare earth metals in 2015 is being set at 105,000 tons, unchanged from the previous year.

 

According to the announcement, reorganization plan submitted by the following six companies have been approved:- China Northern Rare Earth Group (Baogang Group), China Minmetals, Chinalco, Guangdong Rare Earth Corp, China South Rare Earth Group (Ganzhou Rare Earth Group), and Xiamen Tungsten Group. The abovementioned rare earth giants are expected to control domestic rare earth production during 2015.

 

The approved rare earth mining quota of 105,000 tons comprises of 87,100 tons for light rare earths (LRE’s) and 17,900 tons for medium and heavy rare earths. Company wise, Baogang Group obtained 59,500 tons of the LRE quota. Chalco obtained 2,600 tons of the LRE quota and 1,000 tons of the medium-to-heavy rare earth mining quota. Meantime, Ganzhou Rare Earth Group and China Minmetals obtained 7,965 tons and 2,000 tons of medium-to-heavy rare earth mining quota respectively.

 

As per latest statistics released by China’s General Administration of Customs, the country exported 2,506 tons of rare earths in April this year, down by nearly 16% when compared with a year ago. However, when matched with 2,029 tons in March this year, the exports during April were higher by 23.5%. The cumulative rare earth exports by the country during the initial four months of 2015 totaled 8,044 tons, valued at $96.235 million.