Rare-earth metallurgy may be revived in Russia

The state has made the first serious attempt to revive rare-earth metallurgy in Russia, which broke down with the USSR, Kommersant writes today. The program to the amount of 145 billion rubles, accepted by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, is large-scale: facilities of the industry must exceed the country’s current needs 20 times by 2020. Theoretically, this can make Russia a large exporter of rare-earth metal products, but it will have to struggle with the monopolist – China, and other countries, which started similar projects much earlier, as well as with illegal importers and “grey” schemes for the market.