China raised the first batch production quota over rare-earths and tungsten in 2021

Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) of China recently released a notice on the first batch total production quota over rare-earths and tungsten in 2021. The total quota of rare earths (rare earth oxide REO, the same below) has 84000 t, a significant increase from the 66000 t in 2020. The total quota of tungsten concentrates (65% tungsten trioxide content, the same below) has 63000 t, up from 52500 t in 2020. The rise in quotas is in response to stronger demand from major downstream sectors following a significant recovery in the country’s economy from the impact of Covid-19.

The notice pointed out that to protect and rationally develop superior mineral resources, in accordance with the relevant regulations on the management of protective mining of specific minerals, total quota control over rare earths and tungsten mines will continue to be controlled in 2021. To serve the production of enterprises, the total quota over rare earths and tungsten mines in 2021 was issued in two batches.

According to the notice, among the first batch of total quota control over rare earths, 11490 t of ion-absorption rare earths (mainly MREE and HREE) and 72510 t of hard-rock type rare earths (LREE) were allocated to nine provinces and regions (Table 1). Among the first batch of total quota control over tungsten concentrate mining, the mining quota is 46890 t, and the comprehensive utilization quota is 16110 t, which are allocated to 15 provinces (Table 2).

The notice requires that the natural resources authorities of relevant provinces (autonomous regions) must strictly follow the regulations and earnestly do a good job in decomposing and issuing quotas. The total quota amount of rare earth mining has been allocated centrally to China’s six rare earth groups: Northern Rare Earth, Southern Rare Earth,Chinalco, Xiamen Tungsten, China Minmetals, and Guangdong Rare Earth. Northern Rare Earth obtained 44130 t mining quotas for light rare earths and 38270 t for smelting and separation products, up by 24% from 35375 t and 25%higher than 30492 t, respectively, from 2020. Southern Rare Earth was awarded 19650 t mining quotas for light rare earths and 5100 t for ion-absorption, up from 13875 t and 4250 t,respectively, from last year. The company’s quotas for smelting and separation products increased by 36% to 16267 t from 11956 t. Chinalco’s light rare earth mining quotas rose to 8730 t from 7175 t in 2019, while its mining quotas for ionabsorption rare earths climbed by 20% to 1500 t from 1250 t.The company’s quotas for smelting and separation products grew by 31% to 14327 t from 10940 t. Xiamen Tungsten’s mining quotas for ion-absorption rare earths and smelting and separation products were set at 2064 t and 2378 t, both rising by 20% from 1720 t and 1981 t in 2020, respectively. China Minmetals acquired 1206 t of ion-absorption rare earths and 3395 t of smelting and separation products, a 20% increase each from 1005 t and 2829 t in 2020. Guangdong Rare Earths received 1620 t mining quotas for ion-absorption rare earths and 6363 t quotas for smelting and separation products, up from 1350 t and 5302 t last year, respectively.

Table 1. Total quota control over rare earths (first batch) by province (autonomous region) in 2021.

Table 2. Total quota control over tungsten (first batch) by province (autonomous region) in 2021.

The notice emphasizes that after decomposing and assigning total control quota for rare earth mines and tungsten mines, the natural resources authorities of the relevant provinces (autonomous regions) shall organize the natural resources authorities of the city or county level where the mine is located to sign a letter of responsibility with the mining enterprise to clarify the rights, obligations, and liability for breach of contract. All levels of local natural resources departments must take measures to effectively strengthen the verification and inspection of the implementation of the quotas of rare earth mines and tungsten mines, and accurately count the actual output of mining enterprises.

Source:the first page of China Mining News on February20, 2021;https://www.argusmedia.com/en/news/2188659-china-raises-1h-rare-earths-production-quotas

Compiled by Xi-jie Chen and Li-qiong Jia

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