Illegal mining has been rampant in China’s minerals industry and especially in rare earths. Vasili Nicoletopoulos, of Natural Resources GP, told the IM Congress held in Budapest in March 2012, that smuggled rare earths account for 15% of light element supply to western consumers and up to 50% of heavy element output.
China has now decided to introduce a specialised value-added tax invoice system for rare earths producers in a bid to curb this illegal mining and production of rare earths. The system was introduced on 1 June 2012.
According to China’s Ministry of Information Industry (MII), the new system represents an important regulatory step in curtailing excessive rare earths production.
According to ChinaDaily, a detailed project plan will be formed after further communication with rare earth enterprises.
The publication added that when prices fall to a certain level, enterprises will be required to purchase and...