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OF INTEREST from Wealth Daily.

Urgent: U.S. Energy Department Issues Stark Warning
By Ian Cooper | Thursday, December 29th, 2011
Ian Cooper

One of the world’s largest rare earth producers was just stripped of its ability to export rare earths on “environmental concerns.”

The company is called Baotou Steel.

It produces about half of the world’s rare earth supply, and was just excluded from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s list of 11 approved exporters for 2012.

''Baotou is the world's largest producer and has the highest quota for export and production. It is unimaginable for the industry if it loses its quota because of environmental concerns,'' a Chinese industry insider told Shanghai Securities News.

China also just imposed a rare earth export quota of 30,184 tons this year, down marginally from 30,258 in 2010.

While not significant, the fact that China is still choking off global supplies is enough to raise American eyebrows...

And it may be why the U.S. Department of Energy just warned rare earth supplies are facing some of their most critical supply levels.