Chinese Rare Earth Minerals: Reserves, Supply and Demand - 2013

Rare Earth Deposits & Mining

Jerry C. Tien reported in late 2013 that the REEs consist of 15 lanthanide elements along with yttrium and scandium. They share many similar properties, which is why they occur together in geological deposits. Although commonly referred to as rare, they are really quite common; the reason they are perceived as rare is because it is not common to find them in commercially viable concentrations.These metals are critical to advanced technology, ranging from smart phones to global positions system (GPS) receivers, medical devices and jet engines. They are critical in green, high-tech and defense industries. Although there have been increasing efforts to find alternative supplies, these efforts have been complicated by the pollution that rare earth mining and processing creates.To extract rare earths minerals from mine dore is a complicated and costly process. The ore is first mined through normal mining process,the bastnaesite, which generally contains a number of minerals of little value, is first removed through a flotation process.The bastnaesite containing the REEs is further separated into their respective pure forms in a separation plant using acid and various solvent extraction separation steps. Each element has its own unique extraction steps and chemical processes. At times, these elements,in the form of oxides, will require reprocessing to achieve ideal purity. The last steps would be to further process into metals first, then alloys for various applications. The entire process takes approximately 10 days. The mining and processing of REEs, if not carefully controlled,can create environmental hazards. This is one of the reasons the Mountain Pass Mine in California was closed down in the 1980s.

China’s Rare Earth Deposits
Rare earth elements often occur with other elements such as copper, gold and uranium and have often been produced as a byproduct. Most REEs are located in deposits of the minerals bastnaesite (and similar minerals, such allanite, monazite, etc.) the former in the United States and China account for the largest concentrations of REEs, while the latter deposits are in Australia, South Africa, China, Brazil, Malaysia and India have the next largest concentrations of REEs.

Bastnaesite occurs as a primary mineral while monazite is found in primary deposits of other ore sand recovered as a byproduct. More than 90 percent of the world’s economically recoverable REEs are found in primary mineral deposits. China is rich in REE resources and produces a number of different kinds of REE products.China’s rare-earth resources were discovered by geologist Daohen Ding in Baiyun Obo (InnerMongolia) in 1927 and started production in 1957. Over the years, and with extensive exploration, REEs have been discovered in 21 of China’s 23 provinces and autonomous regions: Fujian, Gansu, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou,Hainan, Henan, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangxi, Jilin,Liaoning, Inner Mongolia, Qinghai, Shaanxi,Shandong, Shanxi, Sichuan, Xinjiang, Yunnanand Zhejiang.

 Although China holds only about 50 percent of the world’s reserves (55 Mt out of 110 Mt or 61 million short tons out of 121 million short tons, world total), it has been providing more than 95 percent of the world’s REEs supplies. It is also the only country in the world to be able to supply all 17 REE products. 

[For information on an allanite occurrence on the Seward Peninsula, Alaska containing REEs and uranium, thorium, see a recent paper: http://www.i2mconsultants.com/downloads/corp/JGG-2-023.pdf ]