5:25 PM ET. By Dennis Normile. In-situ leaching to extract rare earth elements, such as at this mine in southern China, leads to water and soil pollution and large volumes of toxic waste. A Chinese group has proposed a new, cleaner approach that relies on electric currents to separate the elements from the soil. Kevnmh/Wikimedia …Web

The rare earths are 17 metallic elements, located in the middle of the periodic table (atomic numbers 21, 39, and 57–71). These metals have unusual fluorescent, conductive, and magnetic properties—which make them very useful when alloyed, or mixed, in small quantities with more common metals such as iron. Geologically speaking, the rare ...Web

By Mike Ives • January 28, 2013. In November, the first shipment of raw "rare earth" minerals arrived at an $800 million processing plant on Malaysia's east coast near the home of Tan Bun Teet. The …Web

Introduction Rare earth elements (REEs) are comprised of the lanthanide series metals, as well as scandium and yttrium. Despite their name, REEs are not …Web

In addition, rare earth minerals have radioactive minerals with higher intensity than other minerals. That is, exploitation and processing of rare earth contain two risks of pollution: pollution of chemicals and radioactive contamination from rare earths. Thus, the question is to protect the health of exploiting workers, the health of the ...Web

Yet these positive advances rely on a small number of "technology-critical elements," or TCEs, rare materials whose mining, production and disposal are linked to …Web

Rare earth elements (REEs) refer to the group of 15 lanthanides, and are usually categorised into either of the two groups: light rare earth minerals (LREEs) and heavy rare earth minerals (HREEs), based on their atomic weight as shown in the table below: ... can result in radioactive pollution due to the introduction and diffusion of ...Web

Demand is growing. The demand for rare earth elements is expected to grow 400-600 percent over the next few decades, and the need for minerals such as lithium and graphite used in EV batteries could …Web

Light rare earth element mines were dominated by atmospheric pollution and radioactive pollution, while medium and heavy rare earth element mines were …Web

Low-grade sources of rare earth elements (REE), for example from industrial waste, typically contain many rare earth elements and other metals mixed together. The new method relies on a protein called lanmodulin (LanM) that first binds to all the rare earth elements in the source. Then other metals are drained and removed.Web

The Dirty Cost of Clean Energy. In The Rare Metals War, author Guillaume Pitron notes that dirty metals are necessary for a cleaner world.[42] On the surface, Pitron's assertion seems to be hyperbole, but in reality rare earth element extraction and refinement add significantly to greenhouse gas emissions and ground pollution.Web

R are earth elements may be in short supply but they are not rare. Even the rarest, thulium, is more than 100 times more common than gold. But only a few countries – such as the US, Australia ...Web

Overall, for every ton of rare earth, 2,000 tons of toxic waste are produced. China currently dominates the REE market, accounting for 85 percent of the global supply in 2016. Australia is the next largest producer contributing 10 percent of the market, yet barely making a dent in China's monopoly.

Abstract Ion-adsorption rare earth mining activities are accompanied by soil heavy metal and metalloid pollution. The study aimed to determine pollution features, environmental risks, health risks and possible sources of heavy metal and metalloids in typical ion-adsorption rare earth tailing (abandoned for fifteen years). The average …Web

Big Wind's Dependence on China's "Toxic Lakes". The wind industry requires an astounding amount of rare earth minerals, primarily neodymium and dysprosium, which are key components of the magnets …Web

Rare earth elements are finding their way into Colorado water supplies, driven by changes in climate, finds a new study published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.Web

Rare earth elements (REEs) are important raw materials for green technologies. However, REE mining and production uses techniques that are often not …Web

In this study, we focus on three processes that are most commonly used to produce rare earth metals. Light rare earths (La, Ce, Nd, Pr) make up over 90% of those produced in China, the majority of ...Web

Rare earth minerals are processed primarily from ores and minerals that also naturally contain uranium and thorium. Processing rare earth minerals involves the separation and removal of uranium and thorium, which results in TENORM wastes. For detailed information and publications about rare earths, including statistics about …Web

Rare earth elements are essential to today's modern economy due to their high magnetic properties that are needed for producing high-tech devices. ... The Chinese government introduced its first industrial standards for air and water pollution in the rare earth industry in 2011, while launching crackdowns on illegal mining and selling ...Web

The use of rare earth elements in various technologies continues to grow despite some alternatives being found for particular uses. Given a history of ecological concerns about pollution from rare earth …Web

Rare earth elements (REE) are a homogenous group of 17 chemical elements in the periodic table that are key to many modern industries including …Web

Published at the Yale School of the Environment Boom in Mining Rare Earths Poses Mounting Toxic Risks The mining of rare earth metals, used in everything from smart phones to wind turbines, has long …Web

Nearly all phones also require 16 of the 17 rare-earth metals. These are substances like neodymium and terbium which are not actually all that rare — however they are scattered in small concentrations across the planet, which makes their isolation costly. ... Most of the pollution produced by each mobile phone is during its manufacture ...Web

Rare earth elements (REE) include the lanthanide series elements (La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Pm, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, and Lu) plus Sc and Y. Currently these …Web

China's rare earth export trade has developed so rapidly since 1990s that China has gradually occupied a leading position in the international market. However, this fast development was proceeding at the cost of the rare earth energy consumption and environmental devastation. ... Pollution Regulation as a Barrier to New Firm Entry: Initial ...Web

Rare earth elements are finding their way into Colorado water supplies, driven by changes in climate, finds a new study published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. Rare earth ...Web

The Bayan Obo deposit is the largest light rare earth ore deposit in the world, which releases rare earth elements (REEs) to the surrounding environment through long-term mining processes.Web

rare-earth element, any member of the group of chemical elements consisting of three elements in Group 3 (scandium [Sc], yttrium [Y], and lanthanum [La]) and the first extended row of elements below the main body of the periodic table (cerium [Ce] through lutetium [Lu]). The elements cerium through lutetium are called the lanthanides, but …Web

The release of heavy metals and other pollutants during mining led to "the destruction of vegetation and pollution of surface water, groundwater and farmland.". The "excessive rare earth ...Web