In lithium hot spot, ghost towns recall another boom gone bust

When news broke Thursday last week that China was raising REE export quotas for the second half of the year, ostensibly in reaction to a WTO ruling, it was greeted with some surprise and a measure of relief by the makers of anything from iPods to lasers to stealth helicopters. But as the implications of the announcement on future pricing of the 17 elements begin to sink in some analysts are pointing out that rather than easing the pressure on manufacturers who need rare earths, China's move was aimed at cutting off at the knees development of mining projects outside its borders.

WOLFSBURG Russia is offering Germany closer cooperation on rare earths as well as gas and oil supplies, a Russian official said on Monday ahead of an annual bilateral summit in Germany. Berlin has been trying to improve German industry's access to the

China announced this week that it was nearly doubling its rare earths export quota for the next six months compared to last […]

After surging last week, industry bellwether Molycorp led a slide in rare earth mining stocks with a 5% drop by early afternoon on Thursday on news China is raising REE export quotas for the second half of the year in reaction to a WTO ruling. The exact impact of the decision is not yet clear: the new quotas only bring 2011 exports in line with last year prompting the EU to call it "highly disappointing." And fresh data from Lynas Corporation, world no. 2 outside China, show the price of a basket of eight REEs jumping 140% in just over two months.

Stocks in heavyweight rare earth miners soared on Thursday with Molycorp adding 2.5% after trading up over 4% earlier and Lynas Corp wiping out losses it suffered on delays at its Malaysian refinery, gaining 4% on huge volumes. REE stocks are usually volatile but investors digested a lot of news this week: first there was the discovery of massive marine rare earth deposits which was quickly followed by deep scepticism, then the WTO ruled China’s export restrictions violate trade rules and now some analysts believe of the 150 listed REE projects only five will ever enter production.

Pacific Wildcat Resources announced the initial NI 43-101 compliant independent Niobium mineral resource estimate report for the Mrima Hill Niobium and Rare Earth Project in Kenya. The Niobium mineral resource estimate is from surface down to a maximum depth of 30 metres with 83% of the mineral resource tonnes being found in the top 20 metres.

A team of Japanese scientists have found large quantities of rare earth minerals on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. In a Nature Geoscience article published on Monday, the team said that it looked at 78 sites throughout the eastern South and central North Pacific ranging in depths of 3,500 to 6,000 metres. “We estimate that an area of just one square kilometre, surrounding one of the sampling sites, could provide one-fifth of the current annual world consumption of these elements”

The China Post reports two of China's largest rare earths producers Rising Nonferrous Metals Share Co. and Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Rare-Earth (Group) Hi-tech Co. — the listed arms of state-owned companies — said they signed a deal this week to cooperate extensively in the sector. China’s tightening grip on the market became clear last week when Hong Kong customs data showed rare earth ores, metals and compounds exports fell 11% over a single month while at the same time the value of exports surged 242%. News out on Friday of safety delays for a rare earth refinery in Malaysia that would have supplied some 39% of the elements outside China is expected to put further pressure on prices.

Australia's Lynas Corporation lost more than 11% of its value on Friday after it emerged the company's Malaysian rare-earth refinery may be delayed by a government review that called for higher safety standards, further limiting supply of rare earths. Once in operation, the Lynas project could account for more than a third of the world’s supply outside of China. China in recent months closed or consolidated more than 35 rare earth mines and cut export quotas sparking concerns in the US and other industrial nations about access to supplies and causing a frenzy of exploration and development activity.