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Minmetals is planning a strategic restructuring of rare earths with another state-owned company, Chinalco, and the Ganzhou city government.

China Minmetals Rare Earth Co Ltd and Chinalco Rare Earth & Metals Co are two of the “Big Six” state-owned enterprises (SOEs) that dominate the rare earth industry in China, the world’s top producer of the 17 minerals used in consumer electronics and military equipment.

The plan in question has not yet been finalised and must be approved by the relevant authorities.

Ganzhou, in the southern Chinese province of Jiangxi, is one of the country’s two main rare earth production centres. It is home to the headquarters of China Minmetals Rare Earth and another of the Big Six, China Southern Rare Earth Group.

China has long sought to consolidate the rare earth industry beyond the six SOEs that control production and refining within China’s domestic industry.

A three-way combination of the rare earth operations of Minmetals, Chinalco and the Ganzhou government would create China’s second-largest rare earth producer by capacity, behind only China Northern Rare Earth Group.

With the capacity to produce around 45,000 tonnes per year of rare earth oxides, it would also control production in China’s Guangxi, Hunan, Yunnan and Shandong regions and have operations in Fujian and Sichuan.