China Taxing Rare Earth (SHZ) (XING) Minerals

The cost of producing rare earths in China will go up on April 1, as according to the Ministry of Finance and the State Administration of Taxation, cited by Xinhua, they are going to start taxing the minerals.

Xinhua said the tax start off at $9.1 a ton for light rare earths and about $4.55 a ton for medium and heavy rare earths.

Since China announced it was cutting back on rare earth exports, prices have soared from $14,405 a ton to $109,036 a ton.

Public Chinese companies specifically affected by this include Qiao Xing Universal Resources, Inc. (Nasdaq: XING) and China Shen Zhou Mining & Resources, Inc. (AMEX: SHZ).

Publicly traded rare earth competitors outside of China are Molycorp Inc. (NYSE: MCP), Rare Element Resources (AMEX: REE), and Avalon Rare Metals (AMEX: AVL).