BEIJING, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- China continues to maintain stable supplies of rare earth minerals, a group of 17 elements used in electric vehicles and consumer electronics, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) on Tuesday.
To further meet market demands, China increased the annual quota for rare earth mining in 2018 to 120,000 metric tons (tonnes), and for rare earth smelting and separation to 115,000 tonnes, both showing a significant increase from those in previous years, said the ministry.
Due to a delay in issuing the quota for the first half of the year, in order to facilitate the production of rare earth enterprises, the ministry issued the smelting and separation quota of 70,000 tonnes, accounting for 60 percent of the annual quota rather than the usual 50 percent, according to the MIIT.
Against such background, the quota of 45,000 tonnes for the second half of the year is lower than that in the previous year, the ministry added. (Edited by Hu Pingchao, hupingchao@xinhua.org)
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