Kazakh nuclear firm and Japan's Sumitomo launch rare earth plant

Summit Atom Rare Earth Co, a joint venture between Kazatomprom and Sumitomo, will produce 1,500 tonnes a year of rare earth oxides at a $30 million plant in the north of the Central Asian republic. Japan will be its biggest market, The Financial Express reports.  

Japanese and Western consumers have accelerated the search for alternative supplies since China, which produces over 90 percent of the world's rare earths, said it could sharply reduce exports.

The 17 rare earth elements have a wide range of applications, from smartphones and hybrid cars to glass polishing, luminescent materials, hydrogen storage cells and powerful industrial magnets.

Located in Stepnogorsk, near the capital Astana, the new plant intends to double annual production capacity to 3,000 tonnes by 2015, Kazatomprom said in a statement.

By 2017, it would be capable of producing between 5,000 and 6,000 tonnes per year of rare earth oxides, it said.

Source: Agencies

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