News that  Vale may be restarting full production at its 30m tonnes per year Brucutu mine sooner than expected did not stop […]

The lithium project, situated in Ganzi in western province of Sichuan, is expected to produce about 30,000 tonnes of lithium concentrate this year.

The project in Jianghua county is expected to begin production in February 2020, with estimated output of 1,800 tonnes a year of rare earth oxides.

May's exports fell to 3,640 tonnes from 4,329 tonnes in April, but were not far off the 4,264-tonne monthly average since January 2018.

While Australia-based Lynas cannot match China's rare earth processing capability, it is hoping that its role as the largest rare earth miner and the largest processor outside of China will help it forge new relationships and fuel expansion projects.

With construction of nuclear power plants at a 10-year low, uranium demand remains weak.

China's iron ore dipped on Thursday and marked its weakest weekly performance in nearly two months.

The international group says sales of polished diamonds below 0.50 carats are slow due to excess supply, weak Chinese demand and tight Indian liquidity.