Japan to offer subsidies for rare earths

Intellasia Sunday 27th February, 2011

Japan said Friday it would offer around 42 billion yen ($513 million) in subsidies designed to slash the nation's reliance on Chinese rare-earth minerals by a third. The ministry of economy, trade and industry will channel 33.1 billion yen into 160 private sector projects, while an additional 8.9 billion yen will be disbursed to other projects later this year, ministry officials said. The recipients of the subsidies will use them to cover part of their investment in developing technologies to reduce rare-earth use, recycle the precious metals and develop alternative resources. "In the mid- and long-term, we expect a reduction of its use by 10,000 tonnes a year, compared with 30,000 tonnes in present demand at home," the ministry said in a statement.

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