Cobalt

Molycorp recovered somewhat on Monday after a brutal Friday when the rare earth miner was beaten down 11.8% – it was also one of the most actively traded stocks on the NYSE – after an analyst raised doubts about its Mountain Pass mine ramp-up plans.

Downstream companies are playing a wait and see game, hoping to capitalize if rare earth prices decline further.

Analysts from Foster Stockbroking told investors to purge their shares in rare earths miner Lynas Corporation as there is no end in sight for the ongoing problems that have forced the company to halt operations in Malaysia.

China is delivering on its promise to consolidate its mining industry with the formation of a new rare earth mega miner, the new “mega-corporation” will “team up” with rare earth producers in the provinces Shandong, Gansu and Sichuan.

Today's decline brings Molycorp's losses since hitting a high of $77.54 on May 3 2011 to over 80% giving it a market value of $1.1 billion.

Business Insider has the story about Greenland and global warming, which is peeling back thick ice and uncovering vast mineral wealth.

The USA's largest rare earth producer Molycorp (NYSE:MCP) is mounting a credible challenge to Chinese rare earth dominance by dramatically scaling up output and potentially increasing its global market share to 30% from 4% at present.

Baja Mining dropped by almost a third on Friday after announcing class action proceedings seeking $260 million in damages for misrepresenting the true state of affairs at its Boleo project in Mexcio since 2010. It is now worth a paltry $18.7 million on the Toronto big board. During the heady days of 2007 Baja Mining was valued at $836 million.

The volume of rare earth minerals legally exported from China for the first half of 2012 plunged by 42.7% year-on-year to hit 4,908 tons according to statistics from China's customs authorities.