The Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ministry of Mines went on the defensive on Monday about allegedly granting mining licenses to companies with close connections to the government. It qualified those accusations as uninformed and a “double standard."
US-based rare earth miners, Molycorp (NYSE:MCP), gets a foothold in Asia after completing its US$1.3 billion acquisition of Canadian-based Neo Material Technologies Inc. (TSX:NEM).
The Korsnäs South, Siilinjärvi and Laivajoki projects are being acquired from an arm's length private Finnish company, Magnus Minerals Oy, for consideration including 60,000 common shares of the company.
Consulting firm says the top 40 global mining firms earned a record profit of $133 billion last year driven mainly by iron ore, however their market capitalization fell by 25%.
China is looking to allocate a value-added tax (VAT) permit to all rare earth companies in a desperate effort to curb resource plundering, dangerous artisanal mining and widespread pollution, as well as collecting revenue.
Junior miner Matamec Explorations, currently developing the Kipawa rare earths project in western Quebec, Canada, said on Monday it had started a pilot plant to enable the continuous processing of ore samples.
