The rare earth elements (REE) are a group of 17 metals that comprise the lanthanide series of elements lanthanum (La), cerium (Ce), praseodymium (Pr), neodymium (Nd), promethium (Pm), samarium (Sm), europium (Eu), gadolinium (Gd), terbium (Tb), dysprosium (Dy), holmium (Ho), erbium (Er), thulium (Tm), ytterbium (Yb) and lutetium (Lu) in addition to scandium (Sc) and yttrium (Y), which show similar physical and chemical properties to the lanthanides.
Rare earth elements are a relatively abundant group of elements that range in crustal abundance from cerium at 60 parts per million (ppm) to lutetium at 0.5 ppm. The REE have unique catalytic, metallurgical, nuclear, electrical, magnetic and luminescent properties. Their strategic importance is indicated by their use in emerging and diverse technologies that are becoming increasingly more significant in today's society. Applications range from routine (e.g., lighter flints, glass polishing mediums, car alternators) to high technology (lasers, magnets, batteries, fibre-optic telecommunication cables) and those with futuristic purposes (high-temperature superconductivity, safe storage and transport of hydrogen for a post-hydrocarbon economy, environmental global warming and energy efficiency issues).
Over the past two decades, the global demand for REE has increased significantly in line with their expansion into high-end technological, environmental and economic environments. The group of REE is variously, and inconsistently, reported by companies as light REE consisting of La, Ce, Pr, Nd and, sometimes, Sm and heavy REE may start with Sm, followed by Eu through to Lu. However, the heavy REE are sometimes subdivided further into middle REE comprising Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb and Dy with the remainder of the group, Ho to Lu, referred to as the heavy REE. Because of inconsistent reporting, the component elements of light, medium and heavy REE are best noted in each case. The resources of REE are usually reported as rare earth oxides (REO).
Identified resources of REO occur in the Northern Territory and all states except Tasmania (Figure 3.21 and Figure 3.22). Mount Weld in Western Australia is one of the world's richest REE deposits. Other significant REE deposits occur in New South Wales at Toongi, in the Northern Territory at Nolans Bore and in Victoria at the Wim deposits. Olympic Dam in South Australia, however, contains an Inferred Resource of more than 47 million tonnes of REO, more than 23 times the total resource at Mount Weld (2.3 Mt).
China holds around 55 million tonnes, which is 50% of the world's economic resources for REO, whilst Australia accounts for 3% of world EDR with 3.19 million tonnes (Table 3.30). Globally, the production of REE is dominated by China, which accounts for about 87% of production followed by the United States of America with about 6% (Table 3.31). Australia did not produce rare earths in 2012 but began producing them from the Mount Weld deposit at the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant in Malaysia in the June quarter of 2013. Historically, Australia has also exported large quantities of monazite from heavy mineral sands for the extraction of both rare earths and thorium.
Note that all figures for REE in this section are for REO and include yttrium oxide.
Geoscience Australia's historical data for resources of REO only dates to 1990. Recent trends show that the EDR of REO has significantly increased since 2006. China has historically dominated world production of REO (Table 3.31). However, in recent years China has reduced exports of these metals to other countries as its domestic requirements of REO have increased. This increase in demand created a shortage of world supply. In the past decade, several companies have evaluated the resources within REE deposits in Australia (e.g., Nolans Bore and Mount Weld) resulting in a progressive increase in Australia's EDR of REO
Resource to Production Ratio
Between 1973 and 1983, Australia exported monazite concentrates to a number of countries including France, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Japan, Malaysia, India and Taiwan. These concentrates were from heavy mineral sands mining operations from Western Australia and from along the east coast of Australia. Rare earths and thorium were extracted from these concentrates in overseas processing plants. Detailed data are available on the tonnages of concentrates exported and the thorium grades. However, data on the grades of REE and the quantity of REE produced are not known.
In 2013, Australia began producing REO from the Mount Weld deposit in Western Australia. Lynas Corporation, reports that it produced 144 tonnes on a REO equivalent basis in the June quarter of 2013.
At this stage, it is not possible to give a meaningful indicative resource life based on the ratio of AEDR to current mine production.
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