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Why are Rare Earth

Elements so Important in the

21st Century?

Kyran Whymark

Extended Project Qualification

Palmer’s College 2016

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Abstract

Rare Earth Elements (REEs) are found within naturally occurring rocks and the use of these

processed elements have become of increasing importance in modern technology

throughout the world today. However, as the usable supplies of these elements are

currently limited to a few places on Earth, mainly in China, the resources have become

economically as well as politically important across the modern world.

The unusual chemical and physical properties of REEs means that the elements have many

applications as they are found in most modern technologies, big and small: aeroplanes, cars,

mobile phones and watches, to name a few. Clearly, REEs have a tremendous impact on the

daily lives of most people across the world without them even knowing what they are and

how they are used. Unfortunately, REEs appear to be a finite resource and when they are

found in sufficiently high concentrations for companies to make a profit the mining and

extraction processes are often responsible for huge amounts of environmental damage

which can affect different ecosystems across the globe. Today engineers and scientists are

exploring more efficient methods to mine more productively, reduce the use of REEs within

products, improve the recycling processes, explore the uses of the least used REEs that are

more abundant within the Earth’s crust and finally develop alternative technologies.

This dissertation outlines how the importance of these elements is increasing as the 21st

Century progresses. It provides a basic awareness of how the elements are mined and

refined and details the devastating ecological affects shown by pollution. Lastly, it reviews

what the future holds for modern technology as the worldwide consumption of REEs

increases against a backcloth of a Chinese monopoly regarding the provision of these

remarkable processed resources.

Literature Review

Searching the internet on the subject of Rare Earth Elements quickly unearthed a wide

range of technical papers, articles, dissertations etc. along with a few documentaries and

video clips aimed at the academic audience but few provide a basic introduction to Rare

Earth Elements aimed at an audience that would have little or no understanding on this

topic.

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After further, more intense investigations by cross referencing from other sources, the

following provided an introduction to the Rare Earth Elements. ‘Investor Intel’ is a website

which has created the ‘Rare Earth Element Handbook’. This contains the basic geological

facts about each element such as the date of discovery, what minerals the elements are

found in and chemical data such as atomic radius size and mass - far more details than

normally found on a periodic table – however it should be noted that this has been written

as background information for traders of commodities in the worldwide market.

Nevertheless the website and handbook provide an excellent overview to Rare Earth

Elements across the world, is well laid out and it is, therefore, easy to obtain information

due to the layout of the pages.

Another two books are well worth mentioning when as they also provide a good

introduction to REEs, The first is, ‘A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe’

by Theodore Gray, 2012. This covers similar but additional information about every element

on the periodic table. Theodore Gray is an author with a science background from the

University of Illinois and therefore not an expert geologist in this field but the detailed

information on each element is well laid out and easy to extract. The other book, ‘The

Periodic Table - A Field Guide to the Elements’ by Paul Parsons and Gail Dixon, 2013 has a

similar layout but describes the history of each element known to exist and also provides

additional basic information useful for those studying REEs. (Gail Dixon is an editor writer

and Dr Paul Parsons is an author of good repute writing for Nature and the New Scientist)

Visiting the Natural History Museum gave me an incisive view on the minerals and rock ores

that can be found within the Earth’s crust as there are many minerals displayed within

cabinets throughout the Earth section of the museum with curators on hand to answer

queries. I was also able to purchase some books with helpful information from their shop

and I used them for my project where they were displayed at the EPQ fair.

My visits to the University of Leicester and the University of Birmingham on UCAS open days

were also very informative as I was pleased to have the opportunity to speak to material

scientists that specialised in this area. I briefly discussed my project during both visits and

talked about various up-to-date aspects and this widened my understanding of the

worldwide issues regarding the demand and supply of Rare Earth Elements

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As previously mentioned, there are many other sources of information on the internet.

Websites such as; Benjamin Weiss, 2010, Zhengzhou Sebon, 2011 and Asian Metal,

Metalpidea all contained relevant information but these websites are not designed for

people with limited knowledge of this subject. Many of these sites are designed for people

with an in-depth understanding of engineering, geology and chemistry so I found it quite

hard to understand some of the key words and concepts even though I have an interest in

all of these areas. However, Lesley Stahl, an American news journalist, produced a helpful

article in 2014 on CBS’s ‘60 Minutes’ programme. The programme is an overview on how

the seventeen rare earth elements affect our daily lives in the 21st Century. It also includes

the current situation with China having a virtual monopoly on the global market and the

political implications of that worldwide. The Stahl programme, which was originally

broadcasted to the American people, highlighted the possible problems for the USA being

reliant on China with regard to the mining and processing of rare earth metals, especially

heavy rare earth elements. They discussed what this could mean for the development of

technology and the impact this could have economically and politically. However, her report

appeared very biased as it was prepared for consumption in the USA and no other countries

were taken into consideration but nevertheless the information and the possible impacts of

the a virtual Chinese monopoly are well explained.

An extremely useful publication for my dissertation was written by Nic Bilham, 2015 for the

Geographical Society – ‘What the future holds for Rare Earth Metals’. The information is up

to date and includes a wide range of factual data that is relevant to all the sections of my

dissertation. Nic Bilham is the Director of Policy and Communications at the Geological

Society and as such this document, from a reliable source, was published to provide a

‘briefing note on these vital mineral resources, to help to inform debate among scientists,

policy-makers, potential investors and other industry players’. Clearly, what the future

holds for REEs is being debated by top scientists and economists throughout the world. The

Rare-Earth issue, the supply and demand balance, has received considerable attention and

several publications have taken stock of the situation. To summarise - there appear to be

several opposing theories that either state that modern technology will or will not be

hampered by any shortage of the elements from the main global provider (China), either

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from research and/or from the opening of new mines or the future will have shortages in

the short or long term.

Nic Bilham, 2015 was optimistic as he suggests that there will not be any shortages in the

short term but there may be shortages in the long term if no alternatives to the elements

are developed. Writing in the Wall St Journal Asia 2014, Joseph Stemberg, the Editorial page

writer, also suggests that there will not be any shortages because as the demand for the

elements grows, more research will take place encouraging research into more efficient

ways to extract the elements and new mines will open. In addition he says that scientist will

be looking to eliminate Rare Earth Elements from applications, recycle more and substitute

less abundant Rare Earth Elements for more abundant ones.

However, as the debate continues other opinions are being presented. Marc Humphries, in

his 2013 paper ‘Rare Earth Elements: The Global Supply Chain’ written for the US Congress

and Dr Karen Smith Stegen of Jacobs University , Bremen, Germany wrote in her 2014 paper

‘Heavy Rare Earths, Permanent Magnets, and Renewable Energies: An imminent crisis’, say

that there will be REE shortages. They both indicate that China’s monopoly on processing

capacity and supply chains will cause a devastating effect as they lower their exports and

increase the price of the elements and both advocate actions to be taken to minimise the

effect.

Having to take into consideration what each author suggests about the future from their

partly opposing points of view is a challenge in itself but it becomes even more so as many

other publications propose further alternatives. For example, Dr Artem Golev, Postdoctoral

Research Fellow at the Sustainable Minerals Institute in Australia, says in his paper ‘Rare

earths supply chains: Current status, constraints and opportunities’ 2013 that none of these

reports on Rare Earth Elements are very accurate on future challenges for Rare Earth

Elements, and rare earth related industries. His main message is clear, that too many

articles treat all Rare Earth Elements the same although some are a lot rarer than others and

different technologies use different REEs.

After believing that this dissertation would be very factual and informative I have entered

the realm of debate as the future for Rare Earth Elements and their applications can be

difficult to predict. Some writers have also pointed out that rare earth metals, like

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Samarium, which was extensively used in the past, is now rarely used. Other rare earths like

Neodymium and Dysprosium that were rarely used thirty years ago are now in very high

demand as uses for them has increased.

Another variable is mentioned in the Darmstadt report, January 2011 prepared by Dr Doris

Schuler and others called ‘Study on Rare Earths and Their Recycling’. This says that improved

recycling will go a long way to make more out of the resources available, in addition, it also

mentions the positive effects of researching new applications to reduce the need for certain

elements. Progress in this area would potentially reduce the need for mining but this is a

theoretical paper without evidence of practical implementations.

Conservation of the environment is yet another issue that may affect the future availability

of REEs as mining and refining processes create a number of environmental risks to human

health and the environment. The severity of these risks varies due to the mine plant

operations as well as the contaminants that are controlled by the features of the geologic,

hydrologic, and hydrogeologic landforms. Although waste handling methods differ in

different countries around the world, there is very limited data on human health, toxicity,

biomonitoring, and ecological studies on waste materials from mining and processing REEs.

Most of the studies stated mixtures of REEs, rather than individual elements which could

cause misleading data as some of the elements may cause more environmental harm than

others. I found that some studies were conducted in regions within China where ore mining

takes place. However, this meant that most of these studies were not available in English

(only the abstracts were available in English) and this could be misleading.

Clearly, much of the literature about Rare Earth Elements can give only partially accurate

information about mining, processing, recycling and the environmental damage caused by

Rare Earth Elements. In addition, research into the applications for the use of the metals

and the combination of these to existing and new technology continues to change at a pace.

However, I am inclined to agree with Nic Bilham in that solutions will be found to continue

developing modern technology in the long term by locating new deposits and researching

different applications.

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Figure 1.0: Periodic table highlighting

the REE

An introduction to Rare Earth Elements

What do cars, x-ray machines, nuclear control rods, microphones, vehicle window wipers,

mobile phones and TVs all have in common? They all contain processed Rare Earth

Elements. Rare Earth Elements (REEs) are found in literally every piece of modern

technology that you can name yet strangely most people have never even heard of them.

This is strange because society has become so dependent on these metals that our everyday

lives would simply grind to a halt without them.

The Rare Earth Elements are also

known as Rare Earth Metals (REMs)

and are located within the

lanthanide series at the very

bottom of the Periodic Table. These

elements are classified as metals

and have atomic numbers 57

through to 71 with the exception of Scandium-

21 and Yttrium-39. (Ames Laboratory, ‘What

are the Rare Earths?’ 2009)

The names of the Rare Earth Metals (REMs) are either taken from the names of Greek Gods

or after the Scandinavian chemists that discovered them. (Hank Green, 2012) The first

element was discovered in 1794 in the Yitterby Mine, Sweden. The Swedish Army

Lieutenant, Carl Axel Arrhenius, collected a black dense mineral in 1787 near the small

feldspar and quartz mine at Yitterby and he sent the sample to a friend for analysis. (‘A Field

Guide to the Elements’ by Paul Parsons and Gail Dixon, 2013) After causing a considerable

amount of confusion for many chemists, the Finnish chemist Johan Gadolin discovered that

approximately 38% of the mineral, now called gadolinite in his honour, contained a new

Earth Element which was given the name Yttrium after the Yitterby Mine where it was first

found. (‘Rare Earth Element Handbook’, Investor Intel, 2012) The last element was

discovered in 1945 after being purified from radioactive by-products from the nuclear fusion

of Uranium and this was named Promethium after the Greek God who brought fire down

from Olympus to mankind.

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The chemistry of these metals is so complex that it took 151 years from the discovery of the

first Rare-Earth Element in 1794 until the final element was discovered in 1945. Most of the

elements are found in carbonates or in their rock ore form. One of the most common rock

ores of the lanthanide series is Bastnasite which rarely appears in the leading mineralogy

texts. (‘Tasman Metals LTD’, 2010) The reason for this is due to the fact that minerals and

rock ores containing even traces of the elements are rare to experts.

Strangely, despite using ‘rare’ in the name ‘Rare Earth Elements’, the elements are actually

very abundant within the Earth’s crust. If you were to walk outside and scoop up a spoonful

of dirt you would probability find traces of the elements but in extremely low

concentrations. Each element is more common in the earth's crust than silver, gold or

platinum, while cerium, yttrium, neodymium and lanthanum are more common than lead.

(Kira Kay, 2010) However, there are very few places across the world that contain rock ore

deposits in high enough concentrations to actually mine and extract the elements. Finding

more suitable deposits is one of the least known pressing issues that the world faces today

as the elements are needed in the manufacture of most modern technology.

There are a wide range of applications for REMs, however, each of the 17 metals has its own

specific properties and each of these can bond to other atoms like oxygen or halogen to

form compounds with yet different properties. This means that the number of combinations

of the Rare Earth Elements that can be synthetically made are literally limitless with each

compound having a range of uses. Clearly, the world’s technological advances would not

have been possible without these elements and scientists are still investigating new uses for

them. (‘Rare Earth Technology Alliance’, 2013)

One of the most widely used elements is neodymium which can be found in wind turbines,

car windscreen wipers, the mobile phones and even in loudspeakers. Ask yourself, could you

live without your mobile phone or television? More seriously, Neodymium is also used to

make special glass that transmits the tanning rays of the sun (UV radiation) but not the

unwanted heat rays (infrared radiation). This means that the metal can be used in medical

lasers for curing skin cancer and making life-changing eye surgery possible as UV radiation is

used in the treatment and the body does not get affected by the harmful heat rays in the

procedures. Extremely strong permanent magnets, which have thousands of applications,

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are also produced by combining neodymium alloy with iron and boron. You can find these

magnets in your computer hard drives, drive motors for hybrid and electric vehicles and

electronic motors. You can even find neodymium in day-to-day cordless tools, locks for

doors and sometimes in children’s toys as little magnets.

Cerium is the most abundant of all of the Rare Earth Metals as it can be found in a range of

minerals within the Earth’s crust such as Bastnasite and Monazite. (Theodore Gray, 2012)

This element can be found in hundreds of applications such as in catalytic converters which

are located after the combustion in an engine just before the exhaust in various motor

vehicles. Without cerium making catalytic converters possible, most vehicles would be

emitting vast quantities of pollution into the atmosphere. (Dave Gent and Rob Ritchie, 2008)

None of this would be possible without rare earth elements. Cerium also has other

applications such as in cigarette lighters, as the element sparks when struck; low energy

light bulbs to save energy and within TVs as the element improves the colour quality on the

screen. Cerium oxide is also used to polish glass as the compound is a decolourant which is

extremely useful for cleaning windows or your glasses!

Europium is another common REE and its main property is being fluorescent under

ultraviolet light. It is an important component in the production of bank notes used in

Europe, hence the name Europium. It is also used to prevent fraudulent bank notes getting

into circulation. This element glows red under UV light and is consequently used in TVs to

enhance the colour red. (Lesley Stahl, 2014) This REM is also used as control rods for nuclear

reactors as the metal is able to absorb neutrons during nuclear fission as europium is able to

form various isotopes. Some of europium’s isotopes are radioactive and can be products of

nuclear fission within the reactor chamber of a power station. These radioactive isotopes

can then be used for research and medical purposes.

A rapidly developing aspect of REEs is that one of their main uses is in green technology

which is commonly known as ‘environmentally sustainable technology’ (EST) as very little or

no carbon dioxide emissions are released when creating large amounts of energy. (Kenny

Chan, 2014) This is such an important issue for the world today as hydrocarbon fossil fuels

are the world’s most common source of energy from the combustion of coal and crude oil.

Crude oil is a finite resource and the combustion of the substance contributes towards

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Figure 2.0: Bar graph displaying worldwide

reserves of REE by country.

climate change, global warming and global dimming as greenhouse gases are emitted.

Currently, scientists are developing new ways to create large amounts of energy on an

industrial scale all thanks to the REEs to prevent the consequences of using non-renewable

resources for our energy supplies. (Dave Gent and Rob Ritchie, 2008) Without these

elements scientists could not have developed hybrid cars, catalytic converters, wind

turbines and nuclear power stations which all limit climate change and reduce human

impact on the environment.

Clearly, Rare Earth Elements have such a massive impact on our lives that we simply could

not live in the same way without them. They are found everywhere in our everyday

technology, in alternative energy sources, in crucial parts of our infrastructure, in cars,

hospitals and even in our kitchens!

Mining and Refining

As technology has developed so has the

world’s need for REEs. All of them have to be

mined in areas of relatively high

concentrations for mining to be successful

and there are very few deposits across the

worlds that contain rock ores or minerals in

sufficient concentration for this to happen. In

addition, once located, there are many

environmental concerns with the mining of

these elements at each stage (mining, refining and

then the disposal of the waste products) as each can

have its own unique negative effect on the

environment.

Currently China has the largest deposits of all the 17 REE found on Earth and China is also

currently the largest producer of the metals controlling 95% of the world’s REE market. On

the other hand the USA is the second largest ‘producer’ at approximately 2%. This means

that the USA and the rest of the world are almost completely dependent of China’s exports.

(Philip Alexiou 2011)

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Figure 2.2: The REE processing

cycle highlighting the main stages

during this process

The extraction of Rare Earth Rocks

mainly takes place in open quarried

mines using heavy machinery as they

are found within the top layers of the

Earth’s crust. The standard large scale

mining techniques used involve ‘drill,

blast and haul operations’ (Asian

Metals) and deciding on a site for the

extraction of REEs is influenced by the

minerals in which they occur; how easily the element

can be extracted; the types of rock in which these

minerals are found and the most promising geological as

well as sociological/environmental settings.

Obviously the rock ores that are extracted do not come out pure and need to be extensively

refined. The raw extracted material is refined into pure Rare Earth Metals by removing any

impurities and this is usually done close to where it has been extracted to limit the cost of

transportation in a nearby industrial complex where the process of beneficiation takes

place.

Figure 2.1: Shows the global

distribution of Rare Earth

Elements

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The beneficiation process starts with the minerals being put into a jaw crusher mill to break

the solid rocks into smaller pieces. This leads on to the ball mill, large spherical shaped

stones or metal balls which crush the material into fine particles. The leaching process takes

the mineral particles and produces a liquid sulphate, nitrate, or chloride (RECl₃) substance of

the finely crushed rare earths. For transportation, for further removal of impurities, the

chloride is usually turned into a solid carbonate. Rare earth chloride, or carbonate, is

generally not considered a saleable product outside of China as few countries are able to

separate the mixed chloride concentrates into rare earth oxides of individual elements (e.g.

Nd₂O₃) using a process called solvent extraction. Having been separated the oxides are now

the first economically saleable rare earth products in the worldwide value chain, however,

the oxides still need to be converted into high purity metals (e.g. Nd metal) or alloys of rare

earths (e.g. mischmetal or ferro-alloys). Purifying the oxides is yet another difficult task as

the elements have very similar properties which make them hard to separate. This means

that further complicated and expensive methods of separation need to be undertaken to

obtain the pure metals for use by manufacturers.

Clearly, the mining and refining process is incredibly complex and expensive as there are

many stages and huge amounts of electricity and thousands of gallons of water are

required. The actual physical process of removing ores from the ground also disturbs

thriving ecosystems in the environment around any mine. In addition the methods used to

refine the elements produce a great deal of

waste, particularly radioactive waste, which can

have a devastating effect on the environment if

not dealt with adequately. The main danger is

that ‘once radioactive waste is released into the

air, ground or water, it is impossible to remove’.

(Jonathan Kaiman, 2014)

The main waste by-products from this mining

are of two types; tailings (a mine dump) and

waste rock stockpile. The tailings are of most

concern as they are full of small, fine particles that can be absorbed into water and the

surrounding ground. The contamination of water is then the main concern as once it is

contaminated it is difficult to return it to its original state.

Figure 2.3: Polluted water discharged

by a small rare-earth mining company

in rural Baotou.

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Such damage can be seen in China. This country started mining in the 1980s and after two

decades of lax regulations it has only just begun to address the environmental issues that

the mining has caused. As previously mentioned, China produces the largest quantity of the

elements crucial for manufacturing modern technology and 50% of this comes from Baotou,

China’s rare earth capital where 2.5 million people live. Consequently it has the world’s

largest tailings pond owned by the Inner Magnolia Baotou Steel Rare Earth Hi-Tech

Company. This pond does not have a proper lining and for the past 20 years its toxic

contents have been seeping into ground water supplies which feeds the Yellow River, a

major drinking water source for most of Northern China. The actual area near Baotou has

been so polluted that the air, land and water are saturated with chemical toxins and the

Chinese have had to relocate entire villages. (Jonathan Kaiman, 2014)

An article in the Guardian, ‘RE mining in China: the bleak social and environment costs’,

says that huge multinational companies in China are highly profit driven and take advantage

of the more relaxed regulations surrounding the mining and refining processing to the

detriment of local communities. The workforce at a plant can also be treated less fairly as

local labourers often have no other choice of employment and the government has weak

labour laws and trade unions do not exist. The extensive deposits, combined with lax health

and safety laws for the workforce and a disregard for the environment means that

economically China’s production costs are so low that it has a virtual monopoly in the

worldwide market. Most other countries have to pay their workforce higher wages and

cover the high cost of recycling waste products environmentally and they are therefore at

an economic disadvantage when compared to China and this is an important factor when

considering the future of REEs.

From the above it is clear that the setting up of a mine and the associated industrial

complexes needed to produce Rare Earth Metals is complex and it is generally accepted that

it can take up to ten years from the discovery of the metals in the ore to the production of

refined pure metals. This time lag is yet another important factor when considering the

future of REEs.

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Current Issues

In 1992 the Chinese Emperor Deng Xiaoping stated that ‘the Middle East has oil but China

has Rare Earth Elements’ (Lesley Stahl 2014) as he predicted the high economic value of the

metals. Many countries in the world require the metals for a range of uses that improve the

lives of their citizens. Without these elements many countries would simply grind to a halt

so REEs have been steadily growing in importance because of their value in the many

cutting-edge technologies used in our industries and within our daily lives. Today, for

economic reasons, new REE deposits are being located around the world as many

companies and countries try to obtain their own supply of these precious elements. In many

ways the race for REE deposits is the equivalent of a 21st century gold rush (Kira Kay 2010).

For most of the last century, as previously mentioned, scientists knew very little about REEs

and there were hardly any products on the market that contained these elements. However,

during the technological boom of the last forty years or so countless everyday items have

been created that use REEs. Today, the worldwide demand for the elements is out-weighing

the supply which is leading to high economic prices. The price for the metals has

dramatically increased over the past 50 year as only a handful of countries have the

deposits, refineries and machinery to extract and process the elements. At the beginning of

the 21st century the main concern with the REE supply was that there are not enough REEs

available to countries other than China. (Renee Cho 2012) As mentioned, China is the largest

producer of REEs in the world, mining, by various estimates at least 90% of total world

production. (Joseph A Giacalone 2012)

Much of the supply of REEs is Heavy Rare Earth Elements (HREEs) which are in greater

demand. Consequently, many countries around the world, including the United States and

Japan, both directly and indirectly rely on imports from China for the production of various

technologies. For example, Japan relies on imports from China to produce the rechargeable

batteries used to power hybrid motor vehicles and many of the other products that it

exports around the world. Consequently any change to the global supply will adversely

affect the economy of countries worldwide. At the moment China is gradually reducing its

export of REEs to the world, which is causing an increase in the price for these elements.

There are several assumptions and theories that seek to explain why China would restrict

exports to other countries. The most obvious reason, agreed by many experts, is that the

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export restrictions may not be a ‘malicious attempt’ by the Chinese government to ‘starve

the world of REEs’ (Jenkins 2010) but it may be explained by its own growing domestic

demand for these metals. As the use of technology in their own country advances the

export supply of these finite resources has had to be reduced.

Governments across the world, including the USA, are now trying to reduce China’s current

monopoly on the REE market by searching for new deposits and re-opening mines to reduce

their dependence. However the sole USA REE refinery company announced bankruptcy in

2012 as they could not produce usable metals at a profit. Compared to China the USA

spends additional millions on safety procedures, employee salaries and ways to reduce

environmental impacts. On the other hand, China’s REE industry has not been hampered by

environmental issues or worker’s rights, safety or wages. China has poured billions into the

industry but, until recently, has ignored the social and environmental impact of mining.

China’s policies have also allowed them to capitalise on their rare earth element industry by

developing the technology, techniques and labour force required to efficiently and

effectively mine, extract, separate and refine rare earth minerals at more operationally

feasible costs than other countries. During this time it became more economically viable for

countries, such as the United States, to cease production of rare earth minerals and import

these minerals from China.

Just how dependent the entire world is on Chinese rare earths became very clear at the end

of 2010 when China threatened to

restrict supplies to Japan due to Japanese

and Chinese fishing ships ramming each

other in disputed waters. China therefore

stopped the supply and the sudden spike

in rare-earth prices was dramatic – a

3,000% rise in the cost of some elements.

(Justin Rowlatt BBC World Service 2014)

Prices have since fallen back, but as you would

expect the shock was enough to prompt

governments around the world to once again

encourage companies to begin to explore, extract and refine in their own countries REEs.

Currently there is an explosion of worldwide exploration with numerous companies, most of

Figure 3.0: Rare Earth Element prices

compared with gold in January 2008

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them relatively small, exploring on every continent. Interestingly, exploration and chemical

analysis has shown that the seabed might also be a rich, future source of REE especially of

Neodymium and Dysprosium.

However as more REEs deposits, that are potentially economic to mine, are found outside

China, they cannot simply be ‘turned on’ as previously mentioned as it takes ten years, or

longer, to go through all the technical, financial, environmental and regulatory stages

needed to establish a new mine. To reduce the time taken to set up new mining activities

investors and policy makers are currently investigating the feasibility of reopening mines

which were closed because they were unable to compete with China’s low prices. Two

examples of reopening mines are the Mountain Pass mine in California, USA and the

Steenkampskraal mine in South Africa. Reopening mines is a good way to produce new

sources of REEs although these are not thought to be sufficient to cover the increase in

demand worldwide.

To limit China’s monopoly various governments and industrial users worldwide have also

begun to develop other strategies to safeguard the supply of REEs. These governments are

working individually and together to develop an early warning system to better predict

future supply problems. Some industrial users of REEs have also established joint venture

partnerships with mining companies, thereby ‘ensuring a market for the ores at a known

price and securing supply for the processors and manufacturers’. (Nic Bilham 2015)

Yet another area of worldwide concern is that the uses of individual REEs is unpredictable as

the uses are rapidly changing over time and REEs that were needed decades ago are not the

same ones needed now. In the 1970s and 1980s, for example, Samrium was used in

permanent magnets but there was limited availability of this element. Now it is not used at

all. Before 1985 there were no industrial uses for Dysprosium and Neodymium but thirty

years later they are in very high demand for magnets. In fact, Neodymium is said to be the

‘number one rare earth’ for the foreseeable future, and its mineralogical and mineral

processing is currently the key areas for research. (British Geological Survey Challenge

Workshop 25 Oct 2013)

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Figure 3.1: Identifying LREE and HREE

In the next few years changes are forecast in the need for Europium, Terbium and Yttrium,

the three most currently used REEs, because their use in florescent lamps is being reduced

as more Light Emitting Diode (LEDs) are being used and these do not need REEs at all.

Another significant problem with REEs is that

those elements that are used most often are

the lowest in abundance. The general rule

about the natural abundance of REEs is that the

element becomes scarcer as the atomic number

increases. At the moment HREESs are less

abundant than LREEs but higher in demand.

Generally, as the steady supply of REEs decreases, scientists have turned their research from

improving mining techniques to improve recycling techniques in the hope that this will help

fill the gap in demand. However, recycling REEs is not as easy as recycling glass or plastic as

there are challenges at nearly every level. Just as separating REEs from rock ore is difficult so

is recovering them from used goods. REEs are also ‘deeply embedded in other products’ and

‘physical extraction often yields a small return on substantial effort’ (Dent 2012). Once ore

for REEs is extracted the individual REEs must be separated from each other and from the

host ore in a series of procedures that are costly and technically challenging.

What the future holds

Since 2010 several countries have gradually become less dependent on supplies of REE from

China. The USA and Australia are developing their own independent industries and are

learning how to recycle the waste products safely. (Jonathan Kaiman, 2014)

The current situation is that the recycling processes for used REEs are complex and, even if

re-use is economically possible, extensive physical and chemical treatment will be

necessary. Only a few industrial recycling sites are currently operating and up to now there

has been no large-scale recycling of mobile phones, magnets, batteries, lighting and

catalysts which are the main common uses of REEs on the market. For example, mobile

phones contain Neodymium and Dysprosium but it is not economical to recycle these. It is

more likely that electric motors and wind turbines will be recycled first because they are

18

large and have a higher amount of REEs in them although it may be 10 – 20 years before

they enter the recycling economy.

Since their discovery, research on REEs and permanent magnets has been continuous but

today scientists are exploring how to deploy REEs in better ways and how to use substitute

or alternative materials for the same applications with some success. Research into reducing

and eliminating the REE content in applications has produced promising results. Some

governments and manufacturers are seeking to minimise or remove the need for REEs

altogether. One method to reduce the need for Dysprosium, which is needed in magnets to

enhance tolerance to heat, has been to reduce the operating temperature of vehicles or

power generators. In a drive to eliminate the need for REEs altogether in their cars,

Mitsubishi created an electric motor that did not use REEs but at a cost it does not operate

quite as well as motors that use REEs.

Yet another issue to overcome is the fact that the world’s reliance on China’s REEs and that

there are very few sufficient scientists and chemical engineers to set up the new industries

to compete with China. Although it has been difficult for some countries to find and train

people who specialise in this field, countries like Japan are leading the way by encouraging

academics to study this particular area of science, geology and engineering.

Conclusion

In the short term it appears that a potential technological crisis with the shortage of REEs

will be adverted through conservation of these costly materials, by changing production

techniques so as to use lesser quantities of HREEs and more LREESs elements and by

ensuring there are sufficient supplies through new mining and recycling outside China.

However nothing can be taken for granted as the global situation keeps changing, for

example, it is predicted that over the next decade there will be a shortage of some

elements, notably neodymium, dysprosium, europium, terbium and yttrium. (Nic Bilham

2015) As research to find substitute materials and acceptable alternative technologies that

do not rely heavily or at all on rare earth materials continues our reliance on REEs should

diminish, however, ‘it is unlikely that practical material alternatives will be available in the

short-term, if ever’. (Bradsher 2011)

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Hopefully, in the longer term advances in science and technology will improve our ability to

find and extract REEs, as has been the case for other metals in the past, and the likelihood of

supply disruptions will be reduced.

Clearly, there are so many variables that influence the future supply-demand balance for

REEs it makes it difficult to predict their role and influence on technological advances during

the 21st Century but I believe that there is every reason to be optimistic.

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Front Cover Image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rare_earth_element

Figure 1.0: https://tnahistoryoftechnology.wikispaces.com/Rare+Earth+Metals

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Figure 2.3:

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Figure 3.0: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26687605

Figure 3.1: http://www.periodni.com/rare_earth_elements.html