Scientists discover new method of rare earth extraction from titanium dioxide minerals
12/17/2009 12:10:25 AM | Doug Hadfield
stockhouse.com
In what could radically alter the global rare earth industry, scientists at the University of Leeds in the UK have discovered a way to extract significant quantities of rare-earth oxides (REO), present in titanium dioxide minerals.
REOs, which are indispensable for the manufacture of wind turbines, energy-efficient lighting, and hybrid and electric cars, are reclaimed simply and inexpensively from the waste materials of another industrial process.
Recently, Resource Intelligence TV interviewed analyst John Kaiser on rare earth companies as investments. Kaiser noted that rare earth projects generally must be large tonnage deposits with high grades, because of the complexities and costs associated with separating the 15 elements in a rare earth deposit.
The discovery by researchers from Leeds’ Faculty of Engineering, if taken to industrial scale, the new process could eventually shift the balance of power in global supply, breaking China’s near monopoly on these scarce but crucial resources. China currently holds 95% of the world’s reserves of rare earth metals in a multi-billion dollar global market in which demand is growing steadily.
Questions remain as to how long the technology could take to bring to market, who will hold the patent and how it will be made accessible to mining companies. Nevertheless, the news will bring some comfort to downstream buyers of rare earths, such as Toyota which manufactures the majority of hybrid vehicles globally. Such an extraction process, if viable, could dramatically reduce the cost of REEs, some of which have skyrocketed in since China effectively closed the door to export.
“These materials are also widely used in the engines of cars and electronics, defence and nuclear industries. In fact they cut across so many leading edge technologies, the additional demand for device related applications is set to outstrip supply,” said Professor Animesh Jha, who led the research at Leeds.
“There is a serious risk that technologies that can make a major environmental impact could be held back through lack of the necessary raw materials – but hopefully our new process, which is itself much ‘greener’ than current techniques, could make this less likely.”
Despite their name, the 15 rare earth metals occur more commonly within the Earth’s crust than precious metals such as gold and platinum, but their oxides are rarely found in sufficient concentrations to allow for commercial mining and purification. They are, however, found relatively frequently alongside titanium dioxide – a versatile mineral used in everything from cosmetics and medicines to electronics and the aerospace industries, which Professor Jha has been researching for the last eight years.
The Leeds breakthrough came as Professor Jha and his team were fine-tuning a patented industrial process they have developed to extract higher yields of titanium dioxide and refine it to over 99% purity. Not only does the technology eliminate hazardous wastes, cut costs and carbon dioxide emissions, the team also discovered they can extract significant quantities of rare earth metal oxides as co-products of the refining process.
“Our recovery rate varies between 60 and 80%, although through better process engineering we will be able to recover more in the future,” says Professor Jha. “But already, the recovery of oxides of neodymium (Nd), cerium (Ce) and lanthanum (La), from the waste products – which are most commonly found with titanium dioxide minerals – is an impressive environmental double benefit.”
Resource Intelligence TV will have more on this new process interviews come in. We anticipate speaking with Professor Jha, rare earth analysts Jack Lifton and John Kaiser as soon as possible. |
