China’s rare earths announcement a non-event: Stans CEO

China’s decision to slash its export quotas for rare earths is a non-event according to the head of Stans Energy.

CEO Robert Mackay tells BNN last year, China’s export quota was 30,000 tonnes and official exports were around 14 to 15,000 tonnes.  “[That’s] because the other half was all smuggled out. And there was a huge black market because of the massive price increase in rare earths.”

He says when Stans bought its mine in Kyrgyzstan two years ago at the height of rare earths pricing, rare earths commanded $400 US a kilogram. “When we bought our mine, we had the highest value mine in the world at $33 a kilogram,” he says, adding he thinks the price has to stabilize.