Lanthanum, Cerium, Prasedimium, Neodymium, Promethium, Samarium, Europium, Gadolinium, Terbium, Dysprosium, Holmium, Erbium, Thulium, Ytterbium, Lutetium, Yttrium and Scandium, are Elements located at the bottom of the periodic table, which are present in many items used daily, and are part of what is called “Rare Earths”.
This name is given to them due to the difficulty that their extraction represents, since more than 150 minerals can be formed from them such as monazite or batnasite.
They are generally concentrated in more than one mineral and different extraction and processing technologies are required, normally at great cost.
Currently, due to their magnetic and electrical properties, these elements are gaining greater interest, due to their importance in the use for the generation of clean energy, so important at the current time of energy transition in the world. that we find, in addition to its great demand in the technological productive sectors.
The extraction of these minerals is usually carried out in open pit deposits, producing polluting gases and dusts that cannot be controlled, affecting the soils, plants and animals exposed to them. However, given the great impact derived from its usefulness and the great diversity of applications, ways are being sought to minimize damage to the environment and make its extraction safer.
Rare earth elements constitute a group of seventeen chemical elements found on the Earth’s surface, usually in low concentrations, and are essential in the construction of a multitude of materials used in electric motors in cars. , in the filters of mobile screens, in data storage devices, and in batteries of all types, among others.
They are made up of a series of chemical elements found in the Earth’s crust, recognized and appreciated thanks to their magnetic, luminescent and electrochemical properties, which help make many of the technologies we currently use efficient, profitable, fast and long-lasting. Their distinctive properties are given by their atomic structures, where the configuration of their electrons makes them different from other elements in the periodic table.
The first element considered to be rare earth elements discovered was gadolinite, in 1787 in a quarry in Sweden. Currently, rare earth elements are made up of 17 chemical elements, the main sources of rare earth elements being the minerals bastnäsite, monazite and loparite, which despite their high abundance, are more difficult to extract, making them relatively expensive elements, with They had limited industrial use until the development of efficient separation techniques, such as ion exchange, fractional crystallization, and liquid-liquid extraction.
On the other hand, the mining, refining and recycling of rare earths can pose a potential environmental danger, and must be well managed to avoid causing considerable environmental damage. The damage that can be caused to mine workers by being exposed to aerosols in numerous processes such as drilling or crushing of primary rock, soil contamination caused by rock processing or mining dust, can affect to surface and shallow groundwater, to fauna and vegetation, and may even become part of the food chain through crops grown on contaminated soils.
Initially, most of the world’s rare earths came from sand deposits in India and Brazil, however from 1950, South Africa was the world’s largest supplier of rare earths, through the extraction of monazite at the Steenkampskraal mine in the Western Cape province, until the United States became the leading producer in the following decade.
In 2017, China produced more than 80% of the world’s supply of rare earths, mainly from Inner Mongolia, with Australia being the second largest producer.
Currently, the main countries with rare earth deposits are China, Brazil, India, Russia and the United States, which in the coming years may occupy hegemonic places economically speaking, since it is expected that in future years the demand for these elements chemicals will increase, as the demand for technological products increases and the increase in energy storage systems in sectors related to mobility, such as trains and airplanes.
As with any other product, supply and demand determine its market price, however, as supplies reduce, prices rise, and when this occurs, those who control the supply They may see this as an opportunity and try to find or develop new sources of supply.
Now, when a single country controls most of the production, it can make decisions that affect the availability and prices of those materials in the market. An example of this occurred in 2010 when China reduced its exports of rare earths, in order to guarantee its supply for domestic manufacturing, causing panic in the markets and a disproportionate increase in rare earth prices.
There are many countries that host large reserves of rare earths that, if extracted, could feed international markets and end Chinese hegemony. But, although Russia and Australia have significantly increased their production in the last decade, the process of extracting rare earths requires years of research for their extraction, since as their deposits are formed in different ways, the extraction methods used in a deposit They cannot be exported to other deposits.
Of all the elements that make up what are called Rare Earths, neodymium is the most in-demand element as it is essential for the manufacture of rare earth magnets, which are used in a wide range of products. technological, reaching up to 100,000 tons in 2022.
A demand that, together with that of other elements such as Dysprosium and Europium, has favored the increase in concern about its supply, since the control that China currently exercises has raised certain doubts in other countries, which have increased the research that allows finding new extraction technology and, above all, has encouraged the search for new deposits.
