AEMA, coalition launch legal challenge to BLM Conservation and Landscape Health Rule
The American Exploration & Mining Association was joined by a coalition in filing a challenge last Friday in the Wyoming district court.
China has increased its 2011 rare earth export quota, says an article by International Business Times:
China has set its total output of rare earth at 93,800 tonnes this year, 4,600 tonnes more or 5.16 percent higher compared to last year’s, the Ministry of Land and Resources said on Thursday.
China will not grant any new licences for rare earths prospecting and mining before June 30, 2012, the ministry said in a statement on its website.
The total output of light rare earths is set at 80,400 tonnes and that of medium and heavy rare earths at 13,400 tonnes this year, it added.
China exports about 90% of the world’s rare earth elements, many of which are used for components in technological devices such as cell phones, batteries, and flat screen TVs. Rare earths are also critical for the manufacture of electric vehicles and other green technologies, along with superconducters and fibre-optics.
The country temporarily suspended REE shipments to the US and the EU last fall as retaliation against the United States, which said it would investigate whether China had violated WTO rules over clean energy exports and imports.
