2011 is undoubtedly the year of rectification of the rare earth industry. At present, the "Rare Earth Industrial Pollutants Emission Standard" (hereinafter referred to as the "Standard") that has been brewing for a long time has passed the examination and approval by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and has entered the stage of examination and approval by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine.

Rare earth industry will implement heavy code, in addition to the domestic rare earth smelting and separation companies will have a major impact, the relevant companies may also face new environmental protection requirements. “The new environmental protection regulations for rare earths have been issued and new requirements have been put forward for companies that are currently going public. These companies should strive to achieve compliance.” On January 6, Wang Caifeng, deputy inspector of the Raw Materials Industry Department of the former Ministry of Industry and Information, told the Daily Economic News reporter. .

New regulations or new environmental protection investment of 1 billion yuan "The "standard" is very strict, many companies can not be met immediately." On January 6, an insider of a large northern rare earth company revealed to reporters.

According to the reporter's understanding, compared with the previously published "Draft for Comment", the forthcoming "Standard" has stricter regulations for each index. The “Draft for Soliciting Comments” requires that the ammonia emission of existing enterprises must not exceed 50 mg/L, and the ammonia nitrogen emissions of special regions with small water environment capacity must not exceed 15 mg/L; and the forthcoming new regulations for these two indicators It may be further narrowed that the final ammonia nitrogen emissions of the existing enterprises will not exceed 15 mg/L. For special areas with small water environment capacity (such as the Taihu Lake region), the ammonia nitrogen emissions shall not exceed 5 mg/L.

Industry analysts said that the regulations that are expected to be introduced earlier in 2011 will have a decisive impact on the pattern of domestic rare earth smelting and separation industries. "If you strictly implement this environmental protection standard, then 90% of domestic smelting and separation companies may not be able to meet the standard," said a high-level person from a rare earth company in Zhangzhou.

However, the “Standard” announcement does not “break down” the violating company and force it to suspend production. It is time for existing rare earth smelting and separation enterprises to upgrade, renovate, and install environmental protection equipment. Some industry authorities predict that the total amount of additional environmental protection facilities required by the rare earth industry to meet this new environmental protection regulation is expected to exceed RMB 1 billion.

Wang Guozhen, former vice president of China Nonferrous Engineering Design and Research Institute, who participated in the drafting of the Standard, revealed that the original production capacity still has a period of 1 to 2 years after the introduction of the standard, but the new production capacity must strictly follow the standard. Some companies need to replace new processes and equipments, and increase environmental protection investment in process operations.

Many industry experts believe that if the "Standard" is issued and can be strictly enforced, it will accelerate the pace of mergers and reorganizations of enterprises and alleviate the current situation of overcapacity and chaos in the rare earth industry. Before that, the situation of "selling off resources" is also expected to change.

The listed companies are faced with new requirements as soon as they complete the listing process. It can be said that some rare earth companies are currently the most important thing. According to "Daily Economic News" previously reported that some domestic non-listed rare earth companies will "accelerate the pace of listing" this year, of which only in the Jiangxi Province involved in rare earth companies have 4 to 5.

Nowadays, the rare earth industry will implement heavy code, and related companies may also face new environmental protection requirements. According to media reports, under the background of industry regulation, the rare earth companies must be listed before the integration of upstream and downstream industries can be realized. At present, rare earth companies IPO (initial public offering) is not a good time.

Datong Securities researcher Zhao Yanhui said in an interview with the reporter of “Daily Economic News” that the impact of the “Standard” on the rare earth industry is certain. “In particular, for some companies that are preparing to go public, the auditing conditions will become more stringent. ”

On January 6, Wang Caifeng, deputy inspector of the Raw Materials Industry Department of the former Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, told the “Daily Economic News” reporter that environmental protection standards have different requirements in different social development stages. At this stage, the environmental standards of the rare earth industry should be a component of the overall national environmental protection standards. In part, “the new environmental protection regulations for rare earths have been issued and new requirements have been put forward for companies that are currently going public. These companies should strive to achieve compliance.”

However, an unnamed high-level person from the above-mentioned Ganzhou rare earth company stated that whether the company can be listed depends on the current operating conditions. If everything is done well, it will not have much impact on the listing. "Because of the listing, after all, it will bring huge benefits for the future development of the company, including environmental protection work."

On the same day, the environmental protection bureau of Bozhou also told reporters that the industry standard for rare earth has not yet been formally introduced. At present, no new environmental protection requirements for the listing of rare earth enterprises have been introduced. It is not easy to say whether the related company’s listing plan will slow down.

It is reported that from June 15 to June 24 last year, Jidong rare earth accepted the publicity inspection before the listing. The Gansu Rare Earths, which had previously been suspended from the listing plan due to the impact of the macro economy, will also have to “review old issues” this year. “The basic purpose of introducing this standard is to regulate the rare earth industry. If these listed companies are more environmentally friendly in the production process, laws and regulations related to environmental protection will not have much impact on their listing,” Wang Caifeng told reporters.