Rare Earth News

India to renew rare earth mining operations

After seven years away from the industry, India has announced it plans to expand its export of rare earth elements by increasing domestic production of the in-demand metals, Mine Web reports.

According to the news source, the country has already allocated $32 million to develop a 5,000 metric ton processing plant in Orissa, hoping to further expand its latent rare earth mineral operations.

Concerns over China's new limits on rare earth exports have led the country to draft a strategy paper that would give impetus to explore and discover new deposits of rare earth elements.

India ceased its production of the minerals in 2004 due to lack of competition in the market, but now that technology has been developed that makes extraction of the metals highly efficient, the country has re-entered the rare earths arena.

Canada has also ramped up its production of rare earth metals, as Quebec Premier Jean Charest is currently meeting with Chinese officials to form an economic partnership regarding the mining of rare earths.

"It is my hope that the Canadian government, including the provinces, the Chinese government and the business sectors of our respective countries will endeavour to make this plan a reality," Charest stated.