Ministry of Land and Resources announced Wednesday 11 state-planned rare earth mines and two state-planned iron mines, where only state-approved companies will be able to explore, Beijing Times reported Thursday.

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The 11 state-planned rare earth mines are located in Ganzhou of Jiangxi province, an area rich in ion-absorbed-type rare earth. The two state-planned iron mines are located in Panzhihua, Sichuan province, which has a large portion of the nation's vanadium- and titanium-bearing magnetite resources.