(Yicai Global) July 11 -- Rising Nonferrous Metals soared by the daily trading limit after the Chinese miner said a unit won the rights to a rare earth mine in Guangdong province that will give an eight-fold boost to its reserves of the key metallic elements used in developing technologies.

Shares of Rising Nonferrous [SHA: 600259] closed 10 percent higher at CNY57.29 (USD8.54) today, bringing its gain so far the year to more than 16 percent.

Xinfeng Guangdong Rising Rare Earth Development secured a 25-year permit to mine the Zuokeng rare earth area of Guangdong’s Xinfeng county from the Ministry of Natural Resources on July 8, its Guangzhou-based parent company said late yesterday.

The area covers 25.8 square kilometers and has an a 5.4 million ton annual capacity through open-pit mining, Rising Nonferrous said, adding that according to the documents issued by the ministry, there are 171.5 million tons of ore reserves and 111,362 tons of confirmed ionic rare earth reserves in the mine.

The Zuokeng mine is the largest ionic rare earth mine in southern China. It has an extensive mining area, abundant resources, excellent resource distribution, high comprehensive recovery rate of ore, and promising economic value, the company said.

Editor: Futura Costaglione