Much has been made of China’s monopoly on rare earth metals, supplying more than 90% of the world’s supply. With the metals such an important component to all things technology as well as a key component in electric cars and defense systems, it’s no wonder that the rest of the world is concerned about future supply. China has long used the dominance as leverage in trade agreements not to mention to control prices.
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As owner of the largest US based deposit of rare earth metals, Molycorp (MCP) has benefited big from China’s control of these important metals as prices skyrocket due to limited supply and increasing demand. CEO of Molycorp Mark Smith doesn’t see the recent surge as a bubble due to China’s restriction on exporting according to Bloomberg. In July China announced plans to reduce its 2nd half export quota of rare earth metals by 72% … Read the rest
Tomorrow a very interesting ETF begins trading – the Market Vectors Rare Earth Metals ETF (REMX) begins trading on the NYSE. I first wrote about rare earth metals here over a year ago discussing the shortage of neodymium and China’s role in our push to greener energy.
Rare earth metals have been all the rage of late and are an important component in electric cars, wind turbines and many consumer electronics. China is thought to … Read the rest
A few analyst ratings notes to tell you about this morning…
JP Morgan initiates Molycorp (MCP) with Overweight rating and $26.50 price target based on China’s rationing of supplies and raising of rare earth prices. Molycorp aims to be the biggest miner of rare earth metals in the US which are necessary for everything from electric cars to television screens. It’s been said that the Toyota Prius uses more rare earth metals than any other … Read the rest