The Ministry of Land and Resources is intensifying efforts on the supervision of rare earth resource development, relevant chief officials of the Ministry of Land and Resources commented on the recently issued notice by the Ministry that by the end of October, the Ministry will complete the clarification and review of rare earth mining right, by that time, the Ministry of Land and Resources will uniformly publish the list of legitimate owners of rare earth mining right.

The Ministry of Land and Resources recently issued a notice on implementing “Several Opinions of the State Council on Promoting Continual Healthy Development of the Rare Earth Industry”.

The Ministry of Land and Resources requested that competent departments at all levels in charge of land and resources must strengthen supervision on key rare earth production zones,continue to intensify efforts to crack down on illegal prospecting and mining of rare earth,and severely punish illegal unlicensed prospecting and mining behaviors.

Meanwhile, it is planned to investigate one by one all mining rights which are listed into provincial level rare earth prospecting specially planned mining zones and metallogenic prospective areas which are identified through potential evaluation; continue to suspend acceptance of applications for new setup of rare earth exploration rights and mining rights nationwide.

Furthermore, the Ministry of Land and Resources will, on the basis of the already published first batch of rare earth state-planned mining zones, uniformly plan the prospecting and mining of South China ion-type rare earth and North China light rare earth resources, and further define a batch of state-planned mining zones; under the uniform deployment by the Ministry of Land and Resources, define a batch of mining zones as national rare earth resource reserve ore-fields, those ore-fields listed into national reserve will be supervised and protected by local governments, and cannot be exploited without permission from the state government.The Ministry of Land and Resources demanded competent regional departments in charge of land and resources to intensify supervision on rare earth development order, meanwhile they must quicken the pace to deploy the clarification and review of rare earth mining rights, and report the clarification and review results to the Ministry of Land and Resources before the end of October, the Ministry of Land and Resources will uniformly publish the list of legitimate owners of rare earth mining rights.