Disputes over the Integration of Six Rare Earth Groups

At the beginning of 2015, relevant personnel of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said that by the end of this year, the six major rare earth groups should integrate all rare earth mining and smelting separation enterprises in the country and realize substantial restructuring with assets as a link. The control plan of rare earth production will be centrally distributed to the six major groups.

The strategy of the large rare earth group has been adjusted several times, from one in the north and one in the south to two or three in the future, and then to five in the end - ldquo; 5 + 1 & rdquo; the scheme has been finalized, that is, the main body of integration includes one in the north of Baotou Steel, five in the south of Baotou Iron and Steel Mine, China Aluminum, Ganzhou Rare Earth, Guangsheng Nonferrous Metals and Xiamen Tungsten Industry. 。

& ldquo; 5 + 1 & rdquo; after the scheme is determined, six groups have formed their own reorganization plans and approved them. Up to now, six major groups have been formed, namely, China Mine, China Aluminum Industry (601600), North China Rare Earth Industry (600111), Xiamen Tungsten Industry, Guangdong Rare Earth Industry and South China Rare Earth Industry. Guangdong Rare Earth is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Guangsheng Nonferrous Metals Company.

In January this year, & ldquo; Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel Rare Earth (Group) High-Tech Co., Ltd. & rdquo; changed to & ldquo; Northern China Rare Earth (Group) High-Tech Co., Ltd. & rdquo;. Baotou Iron and Steel Rare Earth previously said that it would carry out the integration and reorganization of rare earth enterprises in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Gansu rare earth enterprises and other enterprises outside the region by stages and batches through controlling (participating) shares or equity replacement.

Other large related enterprises in the South began to take a place in this round of industry consolidation several years ago, i.e. & ldquo; horse racing enclosure & rdquo.

It is worth mentioning that in March this year, Ganzhou Rare Earth Group Co., Ltd., Jiangxi Copper Group Co., Ltd. and Jiangxi Rare Metal Tungsten Holding Group Co., Ltd. launched the establishment of South China Rare Earth Group Co., Ltd. It is understood that Ganzhou Rare Earth Group Co., Ltd., which integrates mining, metallurgical separation, processing, trade and R&D, was established in March 2013. It has become the leading enterprise and the largest resource platform of rare earth in South China. It is also the only mining right holder of rare earth in Ganzhou at present. The establishment of rare earth in South China means the establishment of a larger platform.

In addition, the same strength but not included in the list of the six major groups is the Zhongse Share. Its Zhongse Southern Rare Earth (Xinfeng) Co., Ltd. and the local government of Guangdong have jointly established a rare earth mining company, whose Southern ionic rare earth separation capacity can not be underestimated. In addition, in 2011, Zhongse and Yixing Xinwei Group (Hong Kong listed company & ldquo; China Rare Earth & rdquo; 00769) jointly established Zhongse Rare Earth Co., Ltd., the latter's Yixing Xinweili Cheng Rare Earth Co., Ltd., which is also one of the largest rare earth separation enterprises in China.

Faced with the government's request that the six major groups should integrate all rare earth mining and smelting separation enterprises this year, well-known & ldquo; rare earth rich & rdquo; and chairman Jiang Quanlong of Yixing Xinwei Group told TIME Weekly that the future of Xinwei Group would be difficult to say. Last year, it was rumored that China Colors shares would be integrated with rare earths in Guangdong. At that time, China Colors shares were neither denied nor recognized.

The outside world can get a glimpse of the present rare earth industry pattern from the &ldquo announced by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in April this year and the first batch of rare earth production plans in 2015: the six major rare earth groups have obtained 94% of the target, including 49 712 tons of mineral products and 46 690 tons of smelting and separation products. Among them, 29 750 tons of rare earth were obtained in the north and 25 960 tons in the south, and 11 200 tons and 4 757 tons in the south, respectively.

However, what is the real significance of industry integration for enterprises? There are also doubtful voices here, such as complaints from people in the industry to Times Weekly reporters, Integration & ldquo; not the needs of the market & rdquo; in the end & ldquo; is just a concept & rdquo;. In fact, government officials also have such concerns. Jia Yinsong, inspector of the Raw Materials Industry Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and director of the National Rare Earth Office, once said, & ldquo; the formation of rare earth groups can neither be a rally Gang nor a fictitious shell company, but a large-scale rare earth enterprise group in line with the modern enterprise system - rdquo;.