Here as an older article but explains S. Korea position pretty...

Here as an older article but explains S. Korea position pretty well


South Korea, which meets all its rare-earth demand through imports, has expanded and accelerated a plan to stockpile the raw materials and may develop local and overseas deposits, intensifying a global race for supplies.
The government aims to raise reserves to 1,500 metric tons by 2014, compared with an earlier plan to hold 1,200 tons by 2016, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy said in a statement today. South Korea, which currently doesn’t mine any rare earths on its territory, will continue to look for investments in other countries including Australia and Mongolia, the statement said.
South Korea joins Japan and other countries in stepping up efforts to get supplies of the 17 chemically similar metals that are used in products including Apple Inc. iPods, Boeing Co. helicopter blades and Toyota Motor Corp. hybrid cars as prices surge. China, which controls over 90 percent of global supply, began cutting exports in 2009 to conserve resources.
“We will see a significant investment in rare earths outside of the China area,” David Lennox, a resource analyst at Fat Prophets, said from Sydney today, forecasting higher prices. “Those projects will take some time to come to production status and obviously through that time China itself is taking measures to diminish production through environmental control.”
China will prevent rare-earth mining companies from expanding capacity and raise the industry’s entry standards, the Ministry of Land and Resources said on Aug. 5. Rare-earth shipments from China are set at 30,184 tons this year, little changed from 30,258 tons in 2010, government figures show.
‘Supply Shortage’
Molycorp Inc. (MCP), the Greenwood Village, Colorado-based owner of the largest rare-earth deposit outside of China, said yesterday that there’s a “very significant supply shortage right now,” according to Chief Executive Officer Mark Smith.
The South Korean government will conduct a feasibility study by 2013 for the possible development of local deposits in Hongcheon and Chungju, where it found rare-earth elements in a year-long initial exploration through June, it said.
State-run Korea Resources Corp. and Frontier Rare Earths Ltd. (FRO) signed an initial agreement to develop Frontier’s Zandkopsdrift project in South Africa, the Luxembourg-based explorer said on July 13.
South Korea expects to secure about 6,000 tons of output a year from the South African project if production begins in 2014, the ministry’s statement said. That’s almost a double the nation’s annual rare-earth requirements.
“Rare earths are a critical raw material needed to support Korea’s high technology industry and future economic growth,” Korea Resources Chief Executive Officer Kim Shin Jong said in Frontier’s July statement.