Rare earth element (REE) behaviour in alkaline mineral systems:Harnessing nature's geochemical patterns.

稀土元素（REE）在碱性矿物系统中的行为：利用自然的地球化学模式稀土元素（REE）对英国的高科技制造业至关重要，但我们的供应仅来自全球少数几个矿床，其中绝大多数来自中国。必须找到新的资源，开发新的勘探方法。所有埋藏的矿床都有指纹，我们认为，根据最近的地质假说，表层土壤和某些岩石（如火山灰）含有稀土元素的特征，导致矿床深处。我们研究的一个目的是确定这些特征是什么，并使用这些“路线图”发现新的稀土矿床，隐藏在表层。为了实现这一点，并使我们的研究广泛适用，我们需要了解签名模式和导致它们的基本过程。这也将有助于我们了解稀土元素在地表环境中的循环，不仅着眼于寻找新资源的应用，而且有助于有效开采。我们已经激发了矿产勘探公司对这一概念的浓厚兴趣，该项目旨在将这些工业参与者和学术研究人员聚集在一起，以发展这些想法。我们已经注意到，一组特殊的常见的天然矿物，沸石，积累了少量的稀土元素，并可能是选择性的稀土元素，他们集中。我们希望发现哪种沸石对哪种特定的稀土元素具有选择性，以便能够利用这种模式进行工业创新。这些发现将有可能有助于制造特殊的、分离的稀土元素，用于制造业，并通过节能来实现环境效益。理解和模仿自然已经带来了许多造福社会的创新，（例如飞行和抗生素），为了实现我们的目标，我们可以利用最近对世界上最大的REE存款的观察（巴彦敖包，中国），以帮助检查我们的稀土元素的流动性的概念。在巴彦敖包，存在着轻稀土和重稀土的富集模式，我们可以利用这些模式来了解稀土元素的活动性。如果我们与理论建模者和材料科学家合作，我们希望通过使用现有的工业液体，并减少对新矿山的需求，来模仿自然，为社会开发更多的重稀土产品。

Rare earth element (REE) behaviour in alkaline mineral systems:Harnessing nature's geochemical patternsRare Earth Elements (REE) are essential to the UK's high technology manufacturing industries but our supply comes from only a few deposits worldwide, with the vast majority from China. New sources must be found and new exploration methods developed. All buried mineral deposits have a fingerprint and we believe that surface soils and certain rocks such as volcanic ashes contain signatures of REE leading to deposits deep below, according to recent geological hypothesis. One aim of our research is to determine what these signatures are and to use these "route-maps" discover new REE deposits, hidden by surface layers. To achieve this and to make our research widely applicable, we need to understand the signature patterns and the fundamental processes causing them. This will also help us to understand the cycling of REE in surface environments, not just with an eye on the application to finding new resources but also for efficient exploitation. We have stimulated significant interest in this concept from mineral exploration companies and this project aims to bring together these industrial players and academic researchers to develop the ideas. We have noted that a particular group of common, naturally occurring minerals, the zeolites, accumulate small quantities of REE and might be selective in which REE they concentrate. We hope to discover which zeolites are selective for which particular REE to be able to harness the patterns for industrial innovation. The findings will have the potential to help with making special, separated REE components for use in manufacturing, and for environmental benefits from energy savings.Understanding and mimicking nature has led to many innovations for the benefit of society, (e.g. flight and antibiotics) and in pursuit of our goals we can exploit recent observations from the largest REE deposit in the world (Bayan Obo, China), to help examine our concepts of REE mobilities. At Bayan Obo there are enrichment patterns involving the light-REE and the much sought after heavy-REE, which we can use to understand REE mobility. If we team up with theoretical modellers and materials' scientists, we hope to contrive to mimic nature for developing more heavy-REE products for society, by using existing industrial liquids, and lessening the need for new mines.