FILE PHOTO: Workers transport soil containing rare earth elements for export at a port in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province, China October 31, 2010. - Photo: Reuters
BEIJING: A Myanmar rebel group that controls one of the world’s largest rare earth zones has told miners there it will allow shipments of existing rare earth inventories to China from Thursday (March 27), according to two sources and a statement reviewed by Reuters.
Rare earth mining in Myanmar is concentrated in Kachin state around the towns of Panwa and Chipwe, which have been controlled by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) since last October.
Since the group took over, China’s imports of rare earth oxides and compounds from Myanmar have fallen sharply, Chinese customs data shows, driving up prices.
The KIA will allow stockpiles of rare earths to be exported from March 27 and will levy a tax of 35,000 yuan (S$6,460) a ton, it said in a statement sent to miners in the region.
The statement was not dated, but the sources, who have knowledge of the matter, said it was sent on March 26.
They sought anonymity as they were not authorised to speak with media.
The KIA did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
China is the world’s biggest consumer and importer of rare earth ores and compounds, which it uses to produce refined rare earth and magnets, industries it dominates.
Prices for terbium oxide, whose supply is concentrated in Kachin, jumped 21.9 per cent to 6,550 yuan per kg between late September and March 24 as imports from Myanmar dried up.
However, prices have fallen 1 per cent over the past week amid expectations of increasing supply from Myanmar. - Reuters
