China Daily quoted an expert who helped draft the standards said asset of new industry standards aimed at reducing pollution and to regulate practices by rare earth mining companies is set to be revealed this year after obtaining the appropriate approval from the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

Ms Huang Xiaowei deputy director of the National Engineering Research Center for Rare Earth Materials and a professor in Beijing General Research Institute for Non-ferrous Metals said the new standards which are expected to pose operational challenges and raise environmental costs will put rare earth miners under the spotlight.

Ms Huang who is part of a team tasked to draft the standards said under the proposed new standards, the permissible amount of pollutant in a liter of waste water from production should contain 15 milligrams of ammonia nitrogen, an improvement on the current 25 milligrams. These also include new regulations on emission quantities of radioactive elements and phosphorus.

Ms Huang said "The government will allow two or three years for rare earth companies to upgrade their techniques. If they don't meet the standards, the miners will be banned from the industry.”

Mr Niu Jinglu deputy secretary general of the Chinese Society of Rare Earths said "The new standards which are scheduled to be released after the Chinese Spring Festival which falls on February 3rd, will be stringent. This will affect the cost of rare earth production and may raise the prices of Chinese rare earth exports."

China has released guidelines to reform the industry by cracking down on illegal mining practices, encouraging more consolidation and reducing exports, as oversupplies have depleted the country resources and caused serious damage to the environment.

China is also considering whether to establish an industry association and a governmental unit for the rare earth industry to exert more regulation over these precious metals.

Rare earths, composed of 17 elements are used in a number of high-tech processes ranging from wind turbines and hybrid cars to missiles. China has about 30% of global rare earths reserves but produces 97% of the world total supply.

The government said the proposed restrictions are due to environmental concerns, because rare earths are usually found in undeveloped regions and over-exploitation has damaged the local environment.

(Sourced from China Daily