Lynas hit by rare-earth price dive

Tnordberg hp 400 cone crusher pricehe stock fell in heavy trading after JPMorgan downgraded Lynas's US rival, Molycorp, to a "hold" and slashed its price target due to the estimated 9 per cent drop in rare-earths prices.

The slump prompted a query from the Australian Securities Exchange and continued Lynas's tumble from a year-high of $2.70 in April and above $2 last month. Lynas ended down 12.3 per cent at $1.28. Other rare-earths hopefuls bucked the positive broader market, with Alkane Resources and Arafura Resources off 10.5 per cent and 2.3 per cent respectively. Lynas, which aims to produce the first rare earths outside China, said it could not explain the fall, but the miner revealed it was likely this week to post a before-income tax loss of about $57 million, compared with a $43m loss in in the prior period. The company attributed the loss to increased operating costs ahead of...