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China issues rare earth regulations to further protect domestic supply By Reuters:
China has unveiled a list of rare earth regulations aimed at protecting supplies in the name of national security, laying out rules on the mining, smelting and trade in the critical materials used to make products from magnets in electric vehicles to consumer electronics.
The regulations, issued by the State Council or cabinet on Saturday, say rare earth resources belong to the state, and that the government will oversee the development of the industry around rare earths - a group of 17 minerals of which China has in recent years become the world's dominant producer, accounting for nearly 90% of global refined output.
Their global industrial significance is such that under a law that entered into force in May the EU set ambitious 2030 targets for domestic production of minerals crucial in the green transition - particularly rare earths due to their use in permanent magnets that power motors in EVs and wind energy.
EU demand is forecast to soar sixfold in the decade to 2030 and sevenfold by 2050.
The new Chinese regulations, which will take effect on Oct. 1, say the State Council will establish a rare earth product traceability information system.
Enterprises in rare earth mining, smelting and separation, and the export of rare earth products, shall establish a product flow record system, shall "truthfully" record the flow, and shall enter it into the traceability system, the State Council said.
China already last year introduced restrictions on exports of the elements germanium and gallium, used widely in the chip-making sector, citing the need to protect national security and interests.
It also banned the export of technology to make rare earth magnets, in addition to imposing a ban on technology to extract and separate rare earths.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday July 03 2024, @07:00PM
>just about the worst thing they could do for their local industry.
I don't know about the _worst_... around here, time was any yokel with a backhoe and a dump truck could start a "borrow pit" on any land the landowner gave permission for it. Dig as deep as they wanted and sell what came out. Then neighbors started complaining about their land collapsing into the pits, so there were some setback regulations put in place. Then folks figured out that all this dump truck traffic was screwing up the roads... and then the phosphate miners came to town, stripping so much earth they screwed up the surface streams...
I seem to remember during the 1990s tantalum frenzy that some enterprising far easterners figured out that a local car dealership was built on an old tin mine and that the earth under the office building was "contaminated" with tantalum that was used in the tin mining process, so they extracted a lot of this "tantalum rich ore" from under the building in the night, eventually causing it to collapse....
Some restraint and oversight in the extraction of natural resources is absolutely called for. If China is having a boom in "rare earths" extraction, it's better they get into the habit of prescribing what is and is not acceptable before unacceptable damage is done.
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