In an attempt to retain its monopoly over rare earths, China has launched a five-month inspection campaign. The campaign aims to crack down on rare earth production that is not in line with government regulations; Country’s official news agency Xinhua reported quoting Industry Ministry.
Rare earth producers that have no directive production plan exceed production quotas or continue to use outdated or environmentally destructive production techniques will be forced to halt operation or face cancellation of quotas and licenses, the ministry said.
The campaign, which starts from August 1 to December 31, will also clamp down on the sale or purchase of rare earth products from mines that violate industry regulations, the statement said.
Rare earths, a group of 17 metals, are among the most sought-after resources in modern manufacturing. They are vital materials to make an array of sophisticated products ranging from electric car batteries, wind turbines to aerospace alloys.
China suffers serious environmental pollution from mining the metals. More than 90 percent of rare earths on the international market come from China.
To control the environmental damage, the Chinese government has announced various policies, including suspending the issuance of new licenses for rare earth prospecting and mining, imposing production caps and export quotas, and announcing tougher environmental standards.
China imposed a production cap of 93,800 metric tonnes for this year.
Meanwhile, rare-earth processor China Minmetals Nonferrous Metals Co said it is planning to halt output to adhere to the country's mandatory production limit.
That comes amid a recent stabilization of rare-earth prices, which have surged fourfold since the start of this year.
The non-ferrous arm of State-owned China Minmetals Corp, the nation's biggest metals trading firm, issued an appeal on Tuesday to other domestic rare-earth processing plants to also avoid illegal over-production.
The appeal came after the nation's annual output limit for smelting and processing rare-earths products had been reached.
Authorities, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, in April set the rare-earth output limit at 93,800 tons this year.
However, rare-earth producers have not adhered to government guidelines because of weak oversight.
China's annual rare-earth output has surpassed 100,000 tons on average since 2005. The limit set by the government is around 80,000 tons a year.