JAPAN AND THAILAND TO JOINTLY EXTRACT RARE METALS Japan's Agency of Natural Resources and Energy said it will begin experiments with Thailand at the end of March to start commercial production of rare metals in 1989 under a joint project. An agency official said it will set up a 500 mln yen pilot plant in Bangkok which will extract high quality rare metals such as titanium and niobium from sand left over from tin production processes in Thailand. The plant wilq use about a tonne of sand per day, although it is unclear how much rare metal will be extracted, the official said.