By Clint Cox
It’s a draft.
I feel the need to say this because there are a lot of people saying that the Chinese will prohibit export of certain HREEs as if it is a certainty — but it is not a certainty at all. From the recent press release (from www.chinamining.org) regarding the the Development Plan:
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has drafted a plan and related policies for development of the rare earth industry in 2009-2015 and is now soliciting opinions from the related authorities, said Miao Wei, vice minister of MIIT.
Here’s the key — it is a process. Note the part where it reads, “…is now soliciting opinions from the related authorities”. This is not the final policy. Let us wait and see the final policy before drawing conclusions.