SoS RARE: Multidisciplinary research towards a secure and environmentally sustainable supply of critical rare earth elements (Nd and HREE)

稀土元素（REE）一直是关键金属供应安全议程的头条新闻。2010年，欧盟将所有稀土元素定义为关键元素，2014年欧盟的后续分析以及英国和美国的类似项目强调了“重”稀土元素（从铕到镥）是最有可能的金属，不仅有供应中断的风险，而且在不久的将来供应短缺。我们面临的挑战是找到并生产最环保、经济上可行、钕（Nd）该项目的主要目的是了解自然系统中Nd和HREE的流动性和浓度，并研究新绿色工艺，以降低REE提取和回收对环境的影响。通过集中精力研究关键稀土元素，研究计划可以广泛的存款和处理技术的考虑。它使NERC成为一个世界领先的关键稀土研究联盟，专注于在催化剂阶段确定的存款类型，这些类型在生产时最有可能对环境产生低影响，并致力于连接赠款要求的两个目标的研究。（GEM-CRE、MM-FREE）组建一支新的跨学科团队，由英国REE矿床地质学领域的领先专家组成，他们带来了大量的背景知识产权和最新研究，以及材料科学领域的关键科学家，高低温流体地球化学、计算模拟和矿物物理、地质微生物学和生物处理。该研究响应了合作行业合作伙伴的需求，涉及实质性的国际合作以及整个REE价值链的更广泛的国际和英国网络。工作方案有两个方面。第一部分集中在常规矿床，包括中国境外的所有稀土矿和大多数正在进行的勘探和开发项目。其目的是使这些天然矿床的稀土元素的流动性的理解的一步变化。然后，在这项研究的基础上，进一步的矿物学分析和计算和实验研究，目的是优化最相关的提取方法。第二条链展望未来，开发一种可持续的稀土提取新方法。重点将是离子吸附矿床，从该矿床中很容易浸出Nd和HREE，并且可以使用控制良好的原地浸出操作以任何主要矿石类型的最低环境影响进行开采。通过与从事REE勘探和开发项目的行业合作伙伴的合作，将立即应用，他们将获得改进的存款模型，更好，更有效，因此更环保的提取技术。当我们发表我们的研究结果供其他国际团队和公司的研究人员使用时，将有更广泛的好处。稀土供应的多样性和安全性是一个国际性的问题，在这项研究中所面临的挑战是几乎所有稀土矿床所共有的。尽管英国本身没有世界级的稀土矿床，而且依赖于海外项目，但这是一个为这一开发提供世界领先的专业知识的绝佳机会。使用稀土元素的制造商也将受益于研究结果，获得有关未来Nd和HREE供应前景的最新信息。这将有助于规划他们的长期产品开发，以及短期采购战略。同样，研究结果将有助于为国家和欧洲层面的政策制定提供信息，并使更广泛的社区对REE的自然特征和重要性感兴趣，娱乐和教育。

Rare earth elements (REE) have been the headline of the critical metals security of supply agenda. All of the REE were defined as critical by the European Union in 2010 and subsequent analysis by the European Union in 2014, as well as similar projects in the UK and USA, highlighted 'heavy' REE (europium through to lutetium) as the metals most likely to be, not only at risk of supply disruption, but in short supply in the near future. The challenge is to find and produce the most environmentally friendly, economically viable, neodymium (Nd) and HREE deposits so that use of REE in new and green technologies can continue to expand.The principal aims of this project are to understand the mobility and concentration of Nd and HREE in natural systems and to investigate new processes that will lower the environmental impact of REE extraction and recovery.By concentrating on the critical REE, the research programme can be wide ranging in the deposits and processing techniques considered. It gives NERC a world-leading research consortium on critical rare earths, concentrating on deposit types identified in the catalyst phase as most likely to have low environmental impact when in production, and on research that bridges the two goals of the grant call.The project brings together two groups from the preceding catalyst projects (GEM-CRE, MM-FREE) to form a new interdisciplinary team consisting of the UK's leading experts in the geology of REE deposits, who bring substantial background IP and recent studies, together with key scientists from materials science, high and low temperature fluid geochemistry, computational simulation and mineral physics, geomicrobiology and bioprocessing. The research responds to the needs of collaborative industry partners and involves substantive international collaboration as well as a wider international and UK network across the REE value chain. The work programme has two strands. The first centres on conventional deposits, which comprise all of the REE mines outside China and the majority of active exploration and development projects. The aim is to make a step change in the understanding of the mobility of REE in these natural deposits. Then, based on this research, further mineralogical analysis and computational and experimental studies, the aim is to optimise the most relevant extraction methods. The second strand looks further to the future to develop a sustainable new method of REE extraction. The focus will be the ion adsorption deposits, from which it is easy to leach Nd and HREE and which could be exploited with the lowest environmental impact of any of the main ore types using a well-controlled in-situ leaching operation.Application will be immediate through our collaboration with industry partners engaged in REE exploration and development projects, who will gain improved deposit models and better and more efficient, and therefore more environmentally friendly, extraction techniques. There will be wider benefits as we publish our results for researchers in other international teams and companies to use. Diversity and security of REE supply are very much an international issues and the challenges tackled in this research are common to practically all REE deposits. Even though the UK does not have world class REE deposits itself and is reliant on overseas projects, there is an excellent opportunity to provide world-leading expertise for this development. Manufacturers who use REE will also benefit from the research results by receiving up to date information on prospects for future Nd and HREE supply. This will help plan their longer term product development, as well as shorter term purchasing strategy. Likewise, the results will be useful to inform national and European level policy making and to interest, entertain and educate the wider community about the natural characters and importance of the REE.