Rare Earth News

Rare earth mining stocks may benefit from China's crackdown on illegal mining

China has recently been cracking down on the illegal mining of rare earth metals, which could boost the stocks of companies involved in the mining of the minerals around the world.

Xinhua, China's official news agency, reports that the village of Xianghu - located in the southeastern mountains of Fujian Province - has been affected by such illegal mining operations.

However, the efforts of the local government and the villagers themselves - a number of whom patrol the area - have been modestly effective in limiting illegal mining activity.

Fan Linyun, a local official, said that the crackdown has helped to increase the prices for rare earth.

"China has limited the exploitation of rare earth metals, so their prices have started to surge," he told the news source.

The increase in prices not only help China but rare earth mining companies around the globe as well. While the Asian country extracts the majority of rare earth materials, a number of promising finds are located around the globe, in particular in British Columbia and Quebec, which currently has more than 40 rare earth developments.