We saw the beginnings of this a decade ago when the government/Communist Party ordained that Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Rare Earth Hi Tech Co. Ltd. would be one of the survivors:
This is the big dog.
And one that the Chinese government says will be on top of the mandated industry consolidation....
And the headline story from Bloomberg via Mining.com:
China is planning to create two rare earth mining giants in an effort to gain better pricing power in global markets, according to people familiar with the matter.
The government is aiming to eventually consolidate all its rare earth miners and processors into the two huge firms, one in the north and one in the south, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing a private matter.
The one in southern China will oversee medium-to-heavy rare earths, and the other in the north will control all light rare earths, the people said. It’s unclear when the merger will be completed.
Beijing has been restructuring the industry for years into six large state-controlled groups. By consolidating, it hopes to maintain its dominance in the production of the strategic metals, of which it controls 70%, as the U.S. and Europe look to develop their own production and supply chains and diversify away from China.
Several state-owned miners, including Aluminum Corp. of China, will restructure their assets, China Minmetals Corp.’s rare earth unit said in a filing to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange on Thursday evening. That’s the first step toward the consolidation into two giant entities, the people said....
....MUCH MORE
The big dog has since changed its name, now China Northern Rare Earth (Group) High-Tech Co.,Ltd but it is still the big dog with the same stock symbol on the Shanghai Stock Exchange: 600111.
