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.
The structure of Beijing's rare-earths export policies limits on exports, but more or less abundant supplies domestically suggests the goal has been to move the economy up the manufacturing value chain by encouraging foreign companies to locate high-tech production in China.
President Barack Obama will personally announce the action to join Japan and the European Union in requesting consultations with China at the Geneva-based trade arbiter over rare-earths shipments, an administration official said yesterday in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of the White House announcement.
FORBES: China to Face WTO Case Over Rare Earths: All a Little Late
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.
ENGADGET: WTO ruling revives debate over China's rare earths trade
In this case of rare earths and dual-use magnet technology, no quick or easy resolution is likely.
FORBES: Dual-Use Technology, Japan-China Economic Integration, and the New Japanese NSC
The average hybrid vehicle, such as the Toyota Prius, contains 20-25 pounds of rare earths.
FORBES: Forget the WTO: The Rare Earths Solution Is Right Here at Home
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.
FORBES: 2012 Outlook: Uncertainty Continues For Rare Earths Prices, China Still Major Player
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.
FORBES: Forget the WTO: The Rare Earths Solution Is Right Here at Home
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.
As observers noted, Beijing, which currently controls 97% of world production of rare earths, may have been trying to deliver a knock-out blow to the Japanese economy.
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).
FORBES: Tech's Mineral Infrastructure - Time to Emulate China's Rare Earth Policies
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.
And it failed to admit that some companies will willingly pay high prices for rare earths outside China instead of transferring some of their most valuable, cutting-edge technologies to a country with a track record of stealing intellectual property.
China has maintained a rather tight grip over the world's rare earths market, thanks to a slew of export controls, quotas and government-erected barriers to entry.
ENGADGET: WTO ruling revives debate over China's rare earths trade
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.
WSJ: In Geology, Old-Timers Can Be Worth Their Weight in Gold
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.
应用推荐