China cements rare-earths dominance with new global giant

NEW YORK: China has approved a merger of key rare-earths companies, creating a behemoth that will strengthen its control over the global sector it has dominated for decades.

The entity will be formed through merging rare-earth units of government-owned companies including China Minmetals Corp, Aluminum Corp of China and Ganzhou Rare Earth Group Co, according to a stock exchange filing from China Minmetals Rare Earth Co.

The new group will accelerate the development of mines in the south, CCTV reported.

 Bloomberg News reported in September that China was planning to create two giants — one in the country’s north and the other in the south, with each focusing on a different subset of rare earth materials. China controls most of the world’s mined output of rare earths, a broad group of 17…