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China mulls rare metals strategic reserves, export quota cuts

By Nie Peng (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-11-03 13:38

China plans to set up a strategic reserves system for ten rare metals to keep their prices stable, while the Commerce Ministry is mulling year-by-year cuts of about 2 percent on its rare metal export quotas, two national securities newspapers reported on Wednesday.

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The ten metals that may enter the national strategic reserves are rare earths, tungsten, antimony, molybdenum, stannum, indium, germanium, gallium, tantalum and zirconium, the Shanghai Securities News reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter.

China has relatively rich reserves of rare earths, tungsten and antimony, but their exploitation has been under loose supervision, causing severe waste of the resources as well as environmental hazards, according to the paper.

As to the metals for which China long has been relying mainly on imports, such as tantalum, the reserves system would help minimize blows from overseas market price fluctuations, the paper said.

China's Commerce Ministry is also adjusting the export policy on rare metals, the China Securities Journal reported on Wednesday.

Unidentified sources told the paper that the ministry will lower export quotas of rare metals by 2-3 percent each year in the coming years, and rare earths may be subject to deeper cuts.