(Corrects a dispatch sent on Thursday, please read throughout that the export ban concerns technologies making it possible to manufacture magnets based on rare earths and not extraction and separation technologies for which a ban is already in place in place)
BEIJING, Dec 21 (Reuters) – China on Thursday banned exports of technology to make rare earth magnets, adding to a ban already in place on extraction and separation technologies of these critical materials.
Last December, the Department of Commerce sought public input on whether to add samarium-cobalt, neodymium iron-boron and cerium magnet preparation technology to its “Catalogue of Prohibited and Restricted Technologies in export”.
This measure comes as Europe and the United States strive to do without rare earths produced by China, which generates 90% of the world’s refined production.
Rare earths are a set of 17 elements used in particular to make magnets found in electric vehicles, wind turbines and consumer electronics. (Reporting Siyi Liu, Dominique Patton and the Beijing Editorial Team; French version Stéphanie Hamel)
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