The story of rare earth elements (REEs): Occurrences, global distribution, genesis, geology, mineralogy and global production

Dushyantha, Nimila; Batapola, Nadeera; Ilankoon, I.M.S.K.; Rohitha, Sudath; Premasiri, Ranjith; Abeysinghe, Bandara; Ratnayake, Nalin Prasanna; Dissanayake, Kithsiri

doi:10.1016/j.oregeorev.2020.103521

Cited by 397 publications

(192 citation statements)

References 128 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

184

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…As a strategic resource, rare earth elements were widely used in various industries, such as clean energy (Judge et al 2017), agricultural (Abdelnour et al 2019), military and other elds (Massari et al 2013), especially, the middle and heavy REEs were closely related to cutting-edge technology products (Dushyantha et al 2020). Ion-absorbed rare earth ores were the main source of medium and heavy REEs, which was widely distributed at seven provinces in southern China, such as Ganzhou area, Jiangxi (Tang et al 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Accumulation and Distribution of Rare Earth Elements (REEs) and Non-REEs With Vetiver Grass in The Abandoned Ion-Absorbed Rare Earth Mine

Liang¹,

Cai²,

T³

et al. 2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Overexploitation of rare earth elements (REEs) has caused serious desertification and environmental pollution, and ecological restoration of mines has attracted increasing national attention. In this paper, experiments involved land plowing, organic fertilizer broadcasting and vetiver cultivation were carried out to repair abandoned ion-absorbed rare earth mines (REM). Toxic metals content and pH in mining soil, distribution and transportation of toxic metals in the soil – vetiver grass system were investigated in detail.Results revealed that the abandoned REM soil was weakly acidic (pH=4.09) and rich in various toxic metals composed of REEs (La, Ce, Nd, Y, Gd, Dy) of 657.57mg/kg and Non-REEs (Pb, Cu, Se, As, Cd) of 109.98mg/kg. The distribution pattern in vetiver grass illustrated that toxic metals accumulation was mainly concentrated in the roots instead of shoot, and then the cumulative concentration of REEs in roots were much greater than that of Non-REEs. Furthermore, vetiver grass exhibited preferential accumulation of Cd, Se and REEs during the absorption process (from soil to root) and preferential accumulation of Pb, Cu and As during the translocation process (from root to leaf). The adsorption behavior of toxic metals by vetiver was confirmed due to these observed irregular particles in the scanning electron microscopy.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Accumulation and Distribution of Rare Earth Elements (REEs) and Non-REEs With Vetiver Grass in The Abandoned Ion-Absorbed Rare Earth Mine

Liang¹,

Cai²,

T³

et al. 2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…REE share similar geochemical and physical characteristics in nature. They are soft, silver, silvery-white or grey and have a high melting point, high conductivity, high density, high thermal conductibility and high electrical conductivity (Zepf 2013;Wall 2014;Voncken 2016;Balaram 2019;Dushyantha et al 2020). REE chemical and physical properties can change gradually through the lanthanide series.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global Deposits of Rare Earth Elements and Prospects in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Kasay¹,

Bolarinwa²,

Aromolaran³

et al. 2021

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Rare earth elements (REE) are not as rare as their name indicate, but the deposits in which they are found at an economic interest are not very common. They are enriched in carbonatites, pegmatites, alkaline and per-alkaline igneous rocks, placers, laterites, veins, bauxites and iron adsorption clays. Economic deposits of REE are mined from 3 main minerals, which are bastnaesite, monazite and xenotime. REE have been widely used in many high-tech and green technology gadgets, including batteries, computer memories, permanent magnets, smartphones, solar panels, wind turbines, speakers, air conditioners and many other applications. Due to these applications, REE are sought after by many developed and developing economies. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is endowed with mineral potentials. Studies have speculated REE concentration in areas with carbonatite complexes such as Lueshe, Bingo and Kirumba. Other regions with REE potentials include pegmatites. A high weathering rate contributes to metals and REE deposition in lateritic profiles of pegmatites and other alkaline rocks. Additionally, there are placers in many locations of riverbanks. For example, the alluvial placers of Kabengelwa, Mashabuto and Obaye are enriched in monazite and contain significant quantities of rare earth oxides. We believe that, with more research and explorations, the DRC could be a potential target for future REE projects.

show abstract

“…As a strategic resource, rare earth elements (REEs) are essential for high-tech applications and development across various industries [1][2][3][4][5]. With the increased demand for REE resources in the national and international markets, the scale of REE mining has been expanding since 1970s, and it has become one of the leading industries in southern Jiangxi, the origin of two important rivers, the Ganjiang and the Dongjiang (Figure 1).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mining and Restoration Monitoring of Rare Earth Element (REE) Exploitation by New Remote Sensing Indicators in Southern Jiangxi, China

Xie

Huang

et al. 2020

Remote Sensing

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Rare earth elements (REEs) are widely used in various industries. The open-pit mining and chemical extraction of REEs in the weathered crust in southern Jiangxi, China, since the 1970s have provoked severe damages to the environment. After 2010, different restorations have been implemented by various enterprises, which seem to have a spatial variability in both management techniques and efficiency from one mine to another. A number of vegetation indices, e.g., normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), soil-adjusted vegetation index (SAVI), enhanced vegetation index (EVI) and atmospherically resistant vegetation index (ARVI), can be used for this kind of monitoring and assessment but lack sensitivity to subtle differences. For this reason, the main objective of this study was to explore the possibility to develop new, mining-tailored remote sensing indicators to monitor the impacts of REE mining on the environment and to assess the effectiveness of its related restoration using multitemporal Landsat data from 1988 to 2019. The new indicators, termed mining and restoration assessment indicators (MRAIs), were developed based on the strong contrast of spectral reflectance, albedo, land surface temperature (LST) and tasseled cap brightness (TCB) of REE mines between mining and postmining restoration management. These indicators were tested against vegetation indices such as NDVI, EVI, SAVI and generalized difference vegetation index (GDVI), and found to be more sensitive. Of similar sensitivity to each other, one of the new indicators was employed to conduct the restoration assessment of the mined areas. Six typically managed mines with different restoration degrees and management approaches were selected as hotspots for a comparative analysis to highlight their temporal trajectories using the selected MRAI. The results show that REE mining had experienced a rapid expansion in 1988–2010 with a total mined area of about 66.29 km2 in the observed counties. With implementation of the post-2010 restoration measures, an improvement of varying degrees in vegetation cover in most mines was distinguished and quantified. Hence, this study with the newly developed indicators provides a relevant approach for assessing the sustainable exploitation and management of REE resources in the study area.

show abstract

The story of rare earth elements (REEs): Occurrences, global distribution, genesis, geology, mineralogy and global production

Cited by 397 publications

References 128 publications

Accumulation and Distribution of Rare Earth Elements (REEs) and Non-REEs With Vetiver Grass in The Abandoned Ion-Absorbed Rare Earth Mine

Accumulation and Distribution of Rare Earth Elements (REEs) and Non-REEs With Vetiver Grass in The Abandoned Ion-Absorbed Rare Earth Mine

Global Deposits of Rare Earth Elements and Prospects in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Mining and Restoration Monitoring of Rare Earth Element (REE) Exploitation by New Remote Sensing Indicators in Southern Jiangxi, China

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About