SHANGHAI — China’s Trade Ministry denied reports Thursday that Beijing is tightening curbs on exports of rare earths to Japan after a territorial dispute further strained often-tense relations between the rival Asian powers.
With offices closed in Japan and China for public holidays, it was difficult to confirm whether the curbs were new or whether, as reported by The New York Times, they were specifically targeting only Japan.
A spokesman for China’s Ministry of Commerce, Chen Rongkai, denied that Beijing had ordered a ban specifically on rare-earth exports to Japan. Rare earths are crucial for computers, hybrid electric cars and other high-tech products.
Shares of Greenwood Village-based Molycorp Inc., owner of the world’s largest non-Chinese deposit of rare-earth metals, rose 9.2 percent, or $2.17, Thursday to close at $25.37. In July, Molycorp raised $394 million in an initial public offering to restart operations at a California mine that holds deposits of rare-earth metals.
“I don’t know where The New York Times got that information, but we did not issue any ban of that sort,” Chen said.
The New York Times report cited Dudley Kingsnorth, executive director of rare-earth consultant Industrial Minerals Co. of Australia, as saying he had been getting calls from associates in the rare- earth industry who said they had been asked to halt exports to Japan.
Kingsnorth told The Associated Press he spoke to a contact at a Japanese trading house and contacted another consultant in Japan who confirmed that report.
