Most of us have never even heard of rare earth elements or critical metals, yet they are deeply ingrained in the fabric of our 21st century lives, in ways of which we are totally unaware. There are 17 rare earths recorded in the Chemical Periodic Table. These metals are used in our everyday lives, in car batteries and spark plugs, as additives to steel production, especially stainless steel, airplane wings and engines, flints for lighters, colors in glass vases, in powerful industrial magnets, florescent lights, optical fibers, glass polishing, lasers, X- ray machines, laptops, smartphones, etc.
They are called rare earths for it is extremely unlikely to find them in pure concentrated form or in commercially viable concentrations. Extracting these individual elements from the host ore in which they are embedded is a highly complex process producing hazardous radioactive chemicals, such as thorium and uranium. Once separated, the colors of these 17 elements take pastel shades of blue, green, pink, and purple. One of these elements, a radioactive form of promethium, is found in tiny traces on the luminous paint of the hands and dials of our wristwatches.
Despite rare earths being thus called, they are not as rare as supposed. However, they are extremely difficult to mine as they are seldom found in high enough concentrations for economically viable mining operations. The first rare earth element was named ytterbite - now renamed yttrium - in 1787 and was discovered in a quarry near the Swedish village of Ytterby on an island in the Stockholm archipelago. By 1842, the number of rare elements had reached six and it was not until the 1960s that the 17th rare earth element was identified. All except one of these elements are heavier than iron. One of the elements, holmium, was named after Stockholm. Exploitable rare earths have been discovered in Afghanistan, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Greenland, India, Kazakhstan, Malawi, Namibia, Vietnam, and in the U.S.
Original URL: http://www.theborneopost.com/2015/01/25/rare-earths-rare-places-and-rare-prices/
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