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Molycorp, Inc. (NYSE:MCP) jumped 3.16% in its pre marketing hours to $51.00 after the China said that it will cut rare earths export quota for 2011 by 11%.

Shares of rare earth oxide producer climbed to its new 52 week high of $50.29 after the company resumed mining activity at its rare earth metal facility at Mountain Pass, California last week which had been shut since 2002 due to environmental concerns and the low costs for rare earth metals from Chinese producers.

China just slashed its rare earth metals exports by 11% saying that this will protect the environment from further mining. It currently produces 97 percent of the world’s rare earths, which are essential to devices as varied as cell phones, computer drives and hybrid cars. Thus the China’s decision to shrinks rare earth export quota put the makers of high-tech products in a worried situation and has led countries on a hunt for alternative sources. For 2011, China is allotting 14,446 metric tons of rare earth exports split between 31 companies which is 11% less than 2010′s first round of exports. Last month, China also said that it would raise the export tax on some rare earth elements. Following the above news, the companies like U.S.-based Molycorp are ramping up production to open or reopen rare earth mines.

On Dec 21, the company announced that it has entered into a joint venture with Hitachi Metals Ltd to produce the materials used in products from computer hard drives to wind turbines.

So far in the past 5 day trading sessions, the stock went up by 29.22%. Year-to-date, the stock is 395.89% up. The stock has 52 week trading range of $12.10-$50.29. The stock opened at $45.75 and traded in the range of $45.75-$50.29 yesterday. Currently, the market capitalization of the stock stands at $4.07 billion with corresponding beta of 0.63.

Molycorp, Inc., a development stage company, focuses on the production and sale of rare earth oxides (REOs) from stockpiled feedstocks in the western hemisphere.

Tags: Inc. (NYSE:MCP), MCP, Molycorp, NYSE:MCP

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 28th, 2010 at 8:48 am and is filed under Large Cap Stocks, Stocks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.