Development of a process for recovery of rare earth elements from bastnasite and monazite minerals

稀土元素(REE)是元素周期表中原子序数为57-71的15种稀土元素，以及原子序数为21和39的Y和Sc，是银色金属。这些元素是许多高科技产品的基本成分，例如电子、石油和清洁能源行业。人类在文明社会中的生活如果不能获得需要稀土的现代先进产品，无疑是没有意义的。 到2015年，对稀土的需求预计将以每年9%至15%的速度增长。中国拥有全球约36%的稀土储量，但中国生产的稀土元素超过95%。换句话说，Rees的恢复在世界其他地方一直是未知的。另一方面，中国又出台了限制稀土对外出口的新政策。这种需求增加和供应短缺的趋势导致了自2010年以来稀土价格的大幅上涨。因此，尤其是发达国家已经认识到，这种对中国进口的依赖应该减少。然而，由于含稀土矿物的特殊性质以及稀土元素在物理化学性质上的相似性，从相应矿石中回收稀土元素具有明显的挑战性。加拿大拥有丰富的稀土储量，具有成为世界稀土生产领先者的巨大潜力。 这项建议是关于开发一种从世界上最丰富的含稀土矿物--氟碳榴石和独居石矿物中回收稀土的新工艺。研究团队包括蒙特利尔理工学院、麦吉尔大学和拉瓦尔大学的教授以及IAMGOLD公司的两名专家。该流程包括精矿生产的物理选矿、精矿热裂解获得高品位稀土氧化物和稀土元素的单独分离。

The rare earth elements (REEs) which are metals with silvery colors are fifteen lanthanide elements in the periodic table with atomic numbers of 57 to 71 as well as yttrium and scandium with atomic numbers of 21 and 39, respectively. These elements are essential ingredients in many advanced and high tech products, for example, in electronics, petroleum and clean energy industries. Human's life in civilized societies is undoubtedly meaningless without having access to modern and advanced products which require REEs. Demand for REEs is expected to expand by 9% to 15% per year until 2015. China holds about 36% of global REEs' reserve, but it produces over 95% of these elements. In other words, recovery of REEs has been not known in the rest of the world. On the other hand, China has made new policies to restrict exports of REEs to outside. This trend of increase in demand and shortage in supply has caused dramatic increase in REEs price since 2010. Therefore, it has been understood by, especially, developed countries that this reliance on Chinese imports should be declined. However, recovery of rare earth elements from the corresponding ores is noticeably challenging due to special characteristics of the REE bearing minerals and similarity between rare earth elements in terms of physical and chemical properties. Canada is a country with huge potential to be a world leader in REEs production because of its significant REE deposits. This proposal is about development of a new process for recovery of REEs from bastanasite and monazite minerals which are the most abundant REE bearing minerals in the world. The research team includes professors from Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, McGill University and Laval University as well as two specialists from IAMGOLD Corporation. The proposed process includes physical beneficiation for concentrate production, concentrate thermal cracking to gain high grade rare earth oxides and individual separation of the rare earth elements.