Wind turbine motors, iPods, LCD screens, and hybrid cars are just some of the many devices containing rare earths that we have come to rely in this green, information age. While there is a growing awareness of the importance of rare earths in these new technologies, the same cannot be said for the illusive question of just how rare earths (REs) end up in these products. Mining rare earths is relatively simple but producing individual elements from the ore is tremendously difficult. Processing often requires dozens of procedures each resulting in minute changes in the complex rare earth stream.
The target: rare earth oxides These methods produce compounds like rare earth oxides (REOs) which have a growing number of useful applications today and as such can be considered end-products in the Rare Earth supply chain. However, demand is also growing for rare earth metals which means even more refining in...