BEIJING, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- China's Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR) recently unveiled a documentintended to strictly control applications for prospecting and mining permits concerning rare earth and tungsten minerals.
The ministry will continue a moratorium on accepting new applications for prospecting and mining permits of rare earth and tungsten minerals except in any one of the following three circumstances.
First, the applicant uses the central government geological survey fund or the provincial special financial fund to carry out rare earth mineral survey. Second, large rare earth groups fixed by the Chinese authorities apply for rare earth explorations in a bid to balance mining and reserves. Third, the applications for new mining permits of rare earth and tungsten minerals have to meet requirements for total mining quota and capacity balance.
Regarding exploration of the associated resources, the mining amount of the rare earth and tungsten minerals has to be under the total mining quota. Those exceeding the mining quota should be reserved and cannot be sold.
As for transfer of the prospecting and mining permits of the rare earth minerals, the transferee has to be the large rare earth groups fixed by the Chinese authorities, said the document. (Edited by Hu Pingchao, hupingchao@xinhua.org)
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