Analysts say the obstacles Lynas has faced in Malaysia prevented it from enjoying a boom in rare-earths prices.
The company's stock has continued to drift south, underscoring the difficulties still facing Lynas's plans to become a breakthrough player in the global rare-earths market.
This week's ruling applies to materials like bauxite, coke, magnesium, manganese and zinc, but, most notably, does not apply to rare earths -- a group of 17 elements critical to the production of tablets, smartphones and myriad other gadgets.
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In this case of rare earths and dual-use magnet technology, no quick or easy resolution is likely.
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The average hybrid vehicle, such as the Toyota Prius, contains 20-25 pounds of rare earths.
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Mining drives the Mongolian boom, and Dagvadorj is in the thick of it, with numerous licenses for coal, rare earths and other resource-rich properties.
Either scenario would be good news for Molycorp, as one of the major non-Chinese producers of these rare earths.
Information provided by Metal Pages, a news site that focuses on non-ferrous metals, ferro alloys and rare earths, indicated that rare earth elements exports have dropped 65% in 2011 and that China has only exported 11, 000 metric tons of rare earths through the first three quarters of the year.
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There is a profound confusion in demanding affordable renewable-energy sources while constraining domestic production of the rare earths needed to make them a reality.
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Some of your investors are already familiar with some of the innovations in rare earths, like the new windmill technology and flat-screen TVs and the possibility of solar panels down the line.
Rare earths are 17 chemically similar elements crucial to making many hi-tech products, such as phones and PCs.
In due course, the world-outside-of-China, even America, could start to produce more rare earths (as Jack Lifton has noted, and the Chinese have unsurprisingly suggested).
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This concern has been heightened by recent Chinese moves to tighten export quotas, as well as talk (so far just talk) about banning the export of certain rare earths entirely, presumably to favor the development of domestic high-tech industries.
China currently produces 97% of the world's rare earths, vital in the manufacture of mobile phones and other high-tech products.
Hugh Jenner-Clarke, an 83-year-old Englishman, recently found a major deposit of 950, 000 tons of rare earths, a group of 17 elements prized for distinct properties of conductivity, magnetism and flexibility.
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Japanese sources, however, reported that the export of rare earths to Japan had, in fact, stopped as did the Times itself in a follow-up story.
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