Rare Earth Element Mines, Deposits, and Occurrences

Rare Earth Deposits & Mining

Orris and Grauch (2002) of the U.S. Geological Survey provide data on rare earth (including yttrium) mines, deposits, and occurrences that were compiled as part of an effort by the USGS and the University of Arizona Center for Mineral Resources to summarize current knowledge on the supply and demand outlook and related topics for this group of elements. Economic competition and environmental concerns are increasingly constraining the mining and processing of rare earths from the Mountain Pass mine in California.

For many years, the deposit at Mountain Pass was the world's dominant source of rare earth elements and the United States was essentially self-sufficient. Starting approximately 10 years ago, the U.S. has become increasingly dependent (> 90 percent of separated rare earths) upon imports from China, now the dominant source of rare earths. Knowledge of the known economic and noneconomic sources of rare earths is basic to evaluating the outlook for rare earth supply and associated issues.

Data on rare earth mines, deposits, and occurrences were collected from a variety of sources, including: databases of the U.S. Geological Survey and other agencies; published literature; gray literature and unpublished data and compilations; and company, institute, and government websites. Data on rare earth occurrences were included in the compilation along with mines and deposits of known economic potential to better reflect the geologic spectrum of rare earth element concentration.

Many of the occurrences have not been well studied and the economic potential is not really known. Throughout this report and the accompanying data tables, the following abbreviations are used: RErare earths; REE- rare earth elements; REO- rare earth oxides. For most of the deposits, the rare earths include yttrium. For a few deposits, yttrium is considered separately because it was treated separately in the literature. The compilation of rare earth mines, deposits, and occurrences may be found in
Appendix A.

One such site needing additional work is presented in this new paper: http://www.i2mconsultants.com/downloads/corp/JGG-2-023.pdf