SoS RARE

REE exploration by helicopter in Greenland. Eudialyte, an important REE ore mineral. Apatite from Tundulu. Wind farm, Soutra. Members of the SoS RARE team on a composite dyke, Lofdal, Namibia. Members of the SoS RARE team in the Khibiny mine, Russia. Eudialyte ore from Lovozero, Russia. The Kovdor mine, Russia. Laterites over alkaline rocks in north Madagascar represent a potential REE resource. The SoS RARE team in the field in Brazil. Copyright Kathryn Goodenough. Sampling a weathered section in a stream valley. Copyright Kathryn Goodenough.

The rare earth elements (REE) are widely used in modern technologies varying from wind turbines to hard disk drives, low energy lighting to electric cars. They are recognised as critical raw materials by the European Commission and other authorities, because of security of supply concerns. Recent work has highlighted neodymium (Nd) and the heavy rare earth elements (HREE) as being most at risk of supply disruption in the near future.

The major challenge is to develop new Nd and HREE deposits that can be exploited in an environmentally friendly and economically viable way, so that the use of REE in new technologies can continue to expand.

The SoS RARE project aims 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. It brings together an interdisciplinary team of researchers to look at aspects of REE geology, chemistry and metallurgy, and will study both conventional REE deposits and ion adsorption clays (currently the world’s major source of HREE).

The SoS RARE project has now ended, but please feel free to contact the lead research staff at each institution for more information.

Funding

SoS MinErals logo

NERC logo

EPSRC logo

FAPESP logo

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