17409218 Rare Earths Market

8/6/2019 17409218 Rare Earths Market

1/10

ISSN 1067-8212, Russian Journal of Non-Ferrous Metals, 2008, Vol. 49, No. 1, pp. 1827. Allerton Press, Inc., 2008.Original Russian Text A.V. Naumov, 2008, published in Izvestiya VUZ. Tsvetnaya Metallurgiya, 2008, No. 1, pp. @@.

18

INTRODUCTION

The location of rare-earth metals (REM) in the Peri-odic Table is unusual, since these 15 chemically similarelements with ordinal numbers from 57 (lanthanum) to71 (lutecium), which are also known as lanthanides, arecombined in a separate group of the table. In commer-cial practice, another two elements situated in the tableimmediately above lanthanum are referred to as REMs,namely, scandium, under the number 21, and yttrium,with the number 39. REMs are subdivided into yttrium[Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu, (Y)] and lanthanide(cerium) [(La), Ce, Pr, Nd, Pm, Sm, Eu] groups.

The term rare earths, which was introduced at theend of the 18th century (in the jargon of chemists ofthese years, earths were called refractory oxides insol-uble in water), is not quite correct, as the content ofthese metals in the earths crust varies from 60 ppm forcerium to ~0.5 ppm for thulium and lutecium. In otherwords, almost all of them are situated in the earthscrust in amounts larger than that of silver and the fourmost widespread elements (yttrium, lanthanum,cerium, and neodymium) are situated in amountsgreater than that of lead. The only truly rare metal inthis group is promethium with the ordinal number 61,which is radioactive with an extremely small half-lifeperiod, and its amount in the nature is vanishinglysmall. Scandium is the 21st element of the PeriodicTable, which is contained in the earths crust in theamount of 22 ppm (i.e., higher than that of lead andmercury), is also referred to as an REM and it has aseries of established spheres of its application [1, 2].

The value of REMs is increasingly rising due totheir uses in many modern technologies, including theproduction of catalytic filter-neutralizers of exhaustgases of cars, fiber optics, lasers, oxygen sensors, phos-phors, and superconductors. Therefore, the REM mar-ket, which is the youngest goods market, rises violently.From 1964 to 1997, it increased by a factor of 17 and,from 1997 to 2007, it has increased by a factor of 20.5[6].

The purpose of this review is an attempt to carry outperiodization in the development of the world market of

REMs, to describe its state in recent years (both mixedREM oxides and separated metals), and to evaluate itsprospects.

MINERAL AND RAW MATERIAL RESOURCESThe main REM sources are the following minerals:

bastnasite [Ce, La, (CO3)]F (content of REM oxides of7075%), monazite (Ce, La, Nb)[PO]4 (5560%),loparite (Na, Ce, Ca)(Ti, Nb)O3 (3035%), xenotime(Y, Eu, Gd)PO4 (5560%), and ion-absorption clays(1020%). According to USGS estimates, in 2006, thetotal world stocks of REMs recalculated for oxideswere 88 million t. However, in nature, these ores aredistributed so that only a small amount of deposits prof-itable for mining exists in the world.

Figure 1 clearly shows that as raw materialresources were developed, the types of deposits playing

the leading role in the mining structure of REMs varied.The history of industrial mining and obtaining of REMsstarted at the end of the 19th century with the mining ofmonazite sand sediments, which also involved quartz,rutile, and thorium(IV) oxide. Despite a considerablylow REM content, deposits were processed by rela-tively simple methods. A first pilot REM productionwas obtained in 1893 in North Carolina (United States).In Brazil, monazite mining started in 1887, while inIndia, it began in 1911. This segment of REM industryis presented by monazite deposits with resources ofhundreds of thousands of tons in Australia, Brazil,China, India, Malaysia, Republic of South Africa, Sri

Lanka, and Thailand. In the 1950s, monazite sandswere the worlds main source of REMs.

In the 1960s, the era of the mining of bastnasite car-bonatitesthe product of crystallization of deep mag-mas containing fluorocarbonates of REMsbegan.Presently, two large deposits of carbonatite have beendeveloped, namely Mountain Pass (California, UnitedStates) and Bayan Obo (China). In the former of these,the resources of useful components amounted to sev-eral million tons and, since 1966, the deposit has beendeveloped by Molycorp Inc; from the mid-1960s to themid-1980s, it was the main source of the rare-earth raw

METALLURGY OF RAREAND NOBLE METALS

Review of the World Market of Rare-Earth MetalsA. V. Naumov

OOO KVAR, ul. Tallinskaya 24, Moscow, 123458 Russiae-mail: [email protected]

AbstractOn the basis of publications of recent years, the contemporary state of the world market of rare-earth metals is reviewed, periods of its development are considered, and prospects are shown.

DOI: 10.3103/S1067821208010057


2/10


3/10

20

RUSSIAN JOURNAL OF NON-FERROUS METALS Vol. 49 No. 1 2008

NAUMOV

Inner Mongolia (Bayan Obo), in bastnasite deposits inthe north, and in the mining of ion-absorption ores inthe south of the country. The latter are valued due totheir relatively high content of higher rare-earth ele-ments (see Fig. 2b). ~80% of all world resources ofREMs of the less widespread yttrium group are concen-

trated in China. In its southern region (provincesJiangxi and Guandun), absorption ores are used as rawmaterials and heavy REMs and metals of the averageweight are produced; seven companies operate there. Inthe northern region (provinces Baotou and Sichuan),lighter REMs are produced based on bastnasite ore. Theproducers are Baotou Iron & Steel Group, Baotou RareEarth Group, Gansu Rare Earth Corp, and Sichuan RareEarth Group. Since 1990, Chinese dominance in thehistory of mining of REMs has been prevalent; since2002 (the cessation of mining in United States), Chinahas undisputedly dominated in the world market ofREM producers [26].

India

is second among the worlds producers,mainly of yttrium, which is extracted from monazite.Indian Rare Earth Ltd produces yttrium oxide in Aluva;Kerala Minerals & Metals Ltd extracts monazite fromheavy mineral sands in states Kerala, Taminland, andOrissa.

The United States

still possess large resources ofREMs. Until 2002, one of the richest deposits of thecerium group, Mountain Pass, was exploited. From1990 to 2002, along with Bayan Obo, they providedmore than 80% of the world mining of the rare-earthraw materials. Currently, the deposit has been sus-pended, mainly because of environmental problems

associated with the disposal of thorium-containingwaste, while REMs are produced from the storage ofbastnasite previously mined at the Mountain Pass andimported concentrates.

Russia.

Resources of REMs have been counted inores of 14 deposits, of which the dominant part (60.2%)is contained in apatitenepheline ores on the Kola pen-insula, during the processing of which REMs are notextracted. Other resources refer to loparite ores of theLovozerskoe deposit (14.2% of All-Russian resources);rare-earth apatite ores of the Seligdarskoe deposit,Sakha-Yakutiya (22.8%); and, as associated compo-

2

2

nents, to the rare metal ores of Ulug-Tanzek deposit andoil-bearing sandstones of the Yaregskoe deposit. Atpresent, the only source of raw materials is the lopariteores of the Lovozerskoe deposit, which contain ~1% ofREM oxides, as well as 0.24% of niobium pentoxideand 0.018% of tantalum pentoxide. Concentrates

obtained from these deposits contain 3031% REMoxides, 78% niobium pentoxide, 0.50.6% tantalumpentoxide, and 3538% titanium dioxide; rare-earthmetals are represented mainly by the cerium group(97.7%). The maximal production volume of theloparite concentrate is limited by the productive capac-ity of the Solikamsk magnesium industrial complex(1012 ths t/yr).

With the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russiaactually lost sources of raw materials of yttrium andmetals of yttrium group, the mining and output ofwhich were concentrated in Kyrgyzstan (KirgizskiiGMK, deposit Kutessai). The prospective demand in

Russia for REMs can be satisfied through the introduc-tion of a new enterprise based on established resourcesof the Tomtor deposit (uch-k Burannyi, Sakha-Yakutiya), which is represented by the residual soil ofcarbonatites. The ores mined there contain 912%REM oxides on average, i.e., they comprise their natu-ral concentrate.

Australia.

Lynas Corporation Ltd mines monazite.However, for recent 10 years, the output of this mineralreduced by a factor more than 3.5 because of thedecreasing ore quality. Today Australia possesses therichest bastnasite deposit, Mount Weld, which contains1623% of REM oxides per 1 million tons of resources.

This deposit is not currently mined, but is preparing fordevelopment.

Others.

Among other countries with large REMresources are the Commonwealth of IndependentStates, Brazil, Canada, and the Republic of SouthAfrica.

Scandium

Thortveitite, the most scandium-enriched mineral,is one of the rarest. In addition, Sc is contained in ster-rettite, kolbeckite, and bolzite, which are somewhat

1

Table 1. World mining of REMs*, t

Country 1999 yr 2000 yr 2001 yr 2002 yr 2003 yr 2004 yr 2005 yr 2006 yr

United States 5000 5000 5000 5000

China 70000 70000 73000 75000 90000 96000 98000 120000

Commonwealth ofIndependent States

2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 2000 n.d.

Brazil 1400 1400 200 200 India 2700 2700 2700 2700 2700 2700 2700 2700

Total 82000 81000 83000 98300 95000 102000 105000 123000

* By the content of REM oxides.


4/10


REVIEW OF THE WORLD MARKET OF RARE-EARTH METALS 21

less uncommon. However, this element is present iniron, uranium, tin, and tungsten ores, as well as in low-grade coals, in hundredths and thousandths of a per-cent. Annually, tremendous amounts of Sc are takenaway on the earths surface along with other minedminerals (Table 2).

There are no exact data on the worlds production of

scandium; its annual output over the world is appar-ently several tons [4, 12].

WORLD PRODUCTION OF REM-CONTAININGPRODUCTS AND THE MAIN PRODUCERS

Processing of concentrates.

To produce the con-centrates, which contain 6070% of mixed REMoxides, the mined ore is usually processed with the useof flotation technology. Then, initial cracking or leach-ing follows, after which the solutions pass through sev-eral separation stages. From concentrates, intermediateproducts can be obtained such as mixed chlorides orfluorides of REMs, which are the basis for the simplestseparation technology by extraction from the solution.In view of similarity of metals, separation is initiallyperformed into subgroups, then into individual ele-ments.

Obtaining of REMs

is performed by the metalthermal reduction of chlorides and fluorides. In the firstcase, the reducing agent can be sodium and calciumthough, in the second case, it can only be calcium. Forexample, low-melting lanthanides (La, Ce, Pr, Nd) areobtained by the reduction of chlorides or fluorides bycalcium and refractory REMs (Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Lu,

Y) are obtained from fluorides with the use of calciumthermal reduction in tantalum crucibles; individualREMs, such as Sm, Eu, and Yb, are obtained via thereduction of their oxides by lanthanum with simulta-neous distillation. Initially, they are deposited in theform of oxalates, which are sintered until oxides areobtained. High purity of the latter is reached with theuse of ion-exchange technology. Then, oxides arereduced by lanthanum in vacuum with simultaneousdistillation of forming metals, which have a highervapor pressure compared with lanthanum. REMs areconventionally refined by distillation in vacuum.

Features of the market of individual REMs.

Rela-tion of concentrations of individual REMs in variousores can vary to a large extent and it does not corre-spond to the levels of their commercial demand. As aresult, in order to obtain the required amount of rarer,yet more important, elements, producers are forced tofabricate considerable volumes of other, more wide-spread, metals.

China

is the main country processing REM ores intovarious types of REM production. Inner MongoliaHEFA Rare Earth Science & Technology DevelopmentC exploits five enterprises near Baotou with productivecapacity of 10 ths t/yr REMs each. Other large repro-cessors are Gansu Rare Earth Corp, Xmwei Group, YueLong Non-Ferrous Metal, and Primet LLC; Jiangym JiaHua produces medium and heavy elements and Zibo JiaHua specializes in production of light elements. Morethan half of all obtained REM products go towarddomestic consumption, the volume of which in Chinahas surpassed the United States since 2000.

Chinas domination of the market for the mining andproduction of REMs has led to European, Japanese, andother producers proceeding through an organization of

joint enterprise with China.

The United States

is one of the countries leading inthe world in processing of REM ores and output of sep-arated refined REMs. The raw materials are deliveredfrom China and Australia. Producers of rare-earth prod-ucts are Grace Division and Samotoku America Inc.

Australia. Treibacher Industrie AG produces sepa-rated REMs, misch metal, oxides, and other com-pounds of REMs.

France. Rhodia Electronics and Catalyses produces

a complete set of separated REM products for catalyticfilters-neutralizers of exhaust gases and possessesshares of Chinese Baotou Rhodia Rare Earth and Liy-ang Rhodia.

Japan. Shin-Etsu, Santoku, Showa Electronics, andSumkin-Molycorp produce a wide range of REM prod-ucts, including REM magnites; Nikki KK producescerium alloys jointly with Baotou Rare Earth (China);and Showa Denko produces neodymiumiron-boronalloys jointly with Inner Mongolia Baotou Steel RareEarth Hi-Tech (China).

Canada. In 2005, AMR Technologies (joint ownerand operator of Jiangym Jia Hua and Zibo Jia Hua)

announced merger with Magneqench Incleadingproducer of REMiron-boron magnetic alloys. In 2000,Inter Citic Mineral Technologies Inc (Canada) pur-chased 80% shares of Langzhang Zhanghai Tech MatCo Ltd (China) [412].

MAIN APPLICATIONSOF RARE-EARTH METALS

When speaking of the structure of the world con-sumption of REMs, we should note that a considerablepart of these materials is used in the form of relatively

1

Table 2. Main carrier ores and volume of accompanyingscandium

OresProcessing,million t/yr

Amount of accom-panying Sc, t/yr

Bauxites 71 7101420

Uranium 50 50500

Ilmenites 2.0 2040Tinstones 0.2 2025

Zircons 0.1 512


5/10

22


NAUMOV

low-cost mixed compounds. Large amounts of REMsin the form of a mixture of oxides are used in metal-lurgy, as well as glass and ceramic industries. About25% of all mined, unseparated REMs are supplied to

the production of separated pure metals. Of individualREMs, the most widely used are cerium lanthanides(Ce, Nd) and some yttrium lanthanides (Sm, Eu, Gd,Tb). The volumes of annual offers range from severaltons for europium, terbium, and lutecium to 15 ths tfor cerium, yttrium, lanthanum, and neodymium.Strictly speaking, the sectors of the market of mixed

1

and separated REMs should be considered indepen-dent.

Lanthanides

The branch structure of the consumption of REMs ispresented in Fig. 3 and the main spheres of their con-sumption are presented in Table 3.

Glass polishing and ceramics. Virtually every formof the production of high-quality polished glass, includ-ing mirrors and precision lenses, is subjected to treat-ment with the use of cerium oxide. REMs also serve as

Catalysts for oil purification

Others

4%

17% Car catalysts32%

Magnets4%

REM phosphors15%

Polishing of glass and ceramics12%

Metallurgical additives and alloys16%

Fig. 3. Branch consumption of REMs in 20002006.

Table 3. Main spheres of the use of individual REMs in production

REM Symbol Field of application

Scandium Sc High-strength AlSc alloys, electron beam tubes

Yttrium Y Capacitors, phosphors, microwave filters, glasses, oxygen sensors, radars, lasers, superconductors

Lanthanum La Glasses, ceramics; car catalysts, phosphors, pigments, accumulators

Cerium Ce Polishing powders, ceramics, phosphors, glasses, catalysts, pigments, misch metal, UV filters

Praseodymium Pr Ceramics, glasses, pigments

Neodymium Nd Constant magnets, catalysts, IR filters, pigments for glass, lasers

Promethium Pm Sources for measuring devices, miniature nuclear batteries, phosphors

Samarium Sm Constant magnets, microwave filters, nuclear industry

Europium Eu Phosphors

Terbium Tb PhosphorsDysprosium Dy Phosphors, ceramics, nuclear industry

Holmium Ho Ceramics, lasers, nuclear industry

Erbium Er Ceramics, dyes for glass, optical fibers, lasers, nuclear industry

Ytterbium Yb Metallurgy, chemical industry

Lutecium Lu Single-crystal scintillators

Thulium Tm Electron beam tubes, visualization of images in medicine

Gadolinium Gd Visualization of images in medicine, optical and magnetic detection, ceramics, glasses, crystalscintillators


6/10



additives to ceramics, which improve its properties.REM oxides are used in glazes and enamels, as well asfor the coloration of porcelain. Ce-containing glassdoes not lose it luster under the effect of radiation.

Metallurgical additives and alloys. Misch metal iswidely used, which comprises a natural alloy of mostwidespread rare-earth metals. It conventionally con-tains ~50% Ce, 30% La, 15% Nd, and 5% Pr, and isclaimed in metallurgy for purification of steel of freeoxygen and sulfur (in the form of stable oxysulfides)and of impurities of lead and antimony. Misch metalalloyed with iron and magnesium is used in the produc-tion of light alloys. REM additives to aluminum andmagnesium alloys increase their strength at high tem-peratures.

Catalysts.

A large sphere of consumption of REMsis the production of various types of catalysts. Ceriumoxide is necessary for the improvement of characteris-tics of catalytic filters-neutralizers of exhaust gases ofcars. Its presence promotes transformation of carbonoxide, unburned hydrocarbons, and nitrogen oxide intocarbon dioxide, water, and nitrogen. It is assumed thatcerium stabilizes the effect of aluminum oxide,enhances the proceeding of certain catalytic reactions,and increases the activity of rhodium for the reductionof the NOx concentration in exhaust gases. REMs areused for the maintenance of various catalytic reactionsof hydrocarbons in the oil-refining industry and the pro-duction of plastics. Cerium and lanthanum are used inthe FCC-catalysts, which contain zeolites, and in theprocessing of crude oil into oil products. REMs aremore stable with respect to catalyst poisons, such asnickel, vanadium, and sulfur; for this reason, catalystson their bases are used for the removal of sulfur impu-

rities from crude oil. In addition, REMs enhance theeffect of other industrial catalysts, which are assignedfor the performance of processes of oxidation, dehydra-tion, wetting, and polymerization.

Phosphors.

An important market of REMs is theproduction of luminescent materials (or phosphors) inwhich rare-earth elements can be involved in the sub-stance matrix or be the centers of excitation. The elec-tron structure of REE atoms provide their specific effi-ciency during high-energy excitation with the use ofgamma, X-ray, cathode (electrons), or ultraviolet radia-tion with the purpose of obtaining narrow-band lumi-nescence in a visible spectral region.

In TV electron-beam tubes, yttrium oxysulfide acti-vated by trivalent europium (Y2O2S : Eu

3+) is the stan-dard red phosphor, which replaced the ZnS: Ag phos-phor used previously. Among other phosphors for elec-tron-beam tubes are Gd2O2S : Tb

3+ and Y3Al5O12 : Ce3+.

In a new generation of three-band fluorescent lamps,three phosphors are used for the transformation ofultraviolet beams into red, green, and blue lumines-cence; their summation forms white radiation. A diva-lent Eu center gives blue luminescence, Ce and Tb cen-ters give green luminescence, and trivalent Eu centers

give red luminescence. Similarly, in flat plasma panelsand screens with the field emission, REM-based phos-phors that form white LEDs are used.

In medicine radiography, with the use of REM-based phosphors, X-rays are transformed into blue orgreen radiation, which photoemulsion is more sensitiveto.

Magnets.

The application of REMs has led to revo-lutionary transformations in this branch. Powerful mag-nets based on SmCo alloy were developed in the mid-1960s; the SmCo5 and Sm2Con alloys were used in thiscase. Later, samarium was partially replaced by otherrare-earth elements. Even more powerful solid magnetswere introduced into use in 1984 and were based on theNdFeB alloy that possesses the magnetic strengthlarger than that of the SmCo products by a factor oftwo and have high stability toward demagnetization.The demand for magnets is increasing and, in 2005,their world shipments exceeded 40 ths t for a sum of3.7 billion dollars.

Others. Among other spheres of consumption ofREMs is particularly the production of recharged LaNi hydride storage batteries, usually called nickel metalhydride batteries. Due to their higher characteristic andenvironmental advantages, they are gradually forcingNiCd batteries out of use.

In addition, REMs are used in pigments (red,orange, brown) for plastics and in the lanthanum-basedand cerium-based paints, which are developed as analternative to dyes containing heavy metals (cadmium).

Fiber-optic cables transmit signals for large dis-tances since they have periodically arranged segmentsof an erbium-doped fiber that acts as a laser amplifier.

Promethium-147 is used in miniature atomic batter-ies that are capable of supplying energy for severalyears. In such a battery, a twofold energy transforma-tion proceeds. Initially, emission of promethium forcesthe luminescent composition (phosphor) to shine; then,the energy of this light is transformed into electricalpower in a silicon photocell. Promethium-147 oxide(Pr2O3) in an amount of 5 mg is mixed with finely pow-dered phosphor, which absorbs -radiation and trans-forms its energy into red or infrared radiation [916].

Yttrium

The introduction of small amounts of yttrium intosteel makes its structure fine-grained and improves itsmechanical, electrical, and magnetic properties. If asmall amount (hundredth parts of percent) is added intocast iron, its hardness will increase by a factor of twoand wear resistance will increase by a factor of four.This type of cast iron approaches steel in its strengthcharacteristics and withstands high temperatures.Yttrium increases the heat resistance of Ni-, Cr-, Fe-,and Mo-based alloys; increases the plasticity of refrac-tory metals, such as V, Ta, and W, and the alloys basedon them; and strengthens the Ti-, Cu-, Mg-, and

1


7/10


8/10



CONCLUSIONS

In the medium-term prospects, the situation at theREM market appears favorable and it is unlikely thatthe shortage of raw materials will appear at suchimpressive production volumes in China and storedreserves in the United States. A considerable increase inprices for REMs is not expected since the goods supplycan still respond to an increase in demand and an excessof supplies is characteristic of industry in general.However, market competitors admit the possibility of acertain decrease in the nearest future of production ofREMs in China and, correspondingly, an increase inprices, since as the Olympic games in Peking approach,

central authorities a demonstrate toughening of envi-ronmental demands in many sectors of metallurgy,depriving export licenses from plants that pollute theenvironment.

In the long-term prospects, the situation of rare-earth metals seems to be uncertain. The tremendousindustrial resources of deposits now in use (they areformally sufficient for 500 years) do not guarantee pro-tection from the appearance of problems associatedwith an imbalance in the supply and demand for sepa-rate REMs. It seems likely that it is precisely this fact,rather than the monopolistic position of China in the

REM market, that causes anxiety among the producers

and consumers of this production. The rare-earth metalindustry of China long ago came to constitute an inte-gral part of the worldwide chain of the production andconsumption of REMs.

Today, the worlds consumption of rare-earth metalsis ~7075% of their total production; i.e., regular accu-mulation of unclaimed REMs takes place. The data forindividual mines are more impressive. For example, in2006, official representatives of Balyunebo Iron Minein province Baotou informed that since 1958, about12.5 million tons of REM ores have been mined, ofwhich only 1.2 million tons, i.e., about 10%, were used[1116]. It seems likely that in the long-term prospects,a time may come when it will become impossible (notremunerative) to satisfy the demand for individualREMs via an increase in the mining of ores of todaysmetallurgical composition.

In other words, not only will the volume of deposits,but also their mineralogical variety can become in thecourse of time the determining factor of mining profit-ability. In this connection, in the world REM industry,a series of projects on building of new enterprises in thesphere of both the mining and processing of raw mate-rials is performed or prepared today. In 2005, Lynas

25

202001

Price, $/kg

30

2003 2004 2006 2007

40

50

60

35

45

55(a)

500

4002001

600

2003 2004 2006 2007

800

1000

1200

700

900

1100(b)

02001

20

2003 2004 2006 2007

40

60

120(c)

120

202001

220

2003 2004 2006 2007

420

620

820

320

520

720

(d)

80

100

Fig. 5. Dynamics of prices for (a) yttrium, (b) europium, (c) dysprosium, and (d) terbium for 20002007.


9/10

26


NAUMOV

Corp. Ltd announced the completion of the projectMount Weld in Western Australia; Great Western Min-eral Group (Canada) performs a geological survey inthe framework of the project Hoidas Lake (provinceSaskatchewan); Rare Earth Metals (Canada) performsworks at the carbonatite deposit Eden Lake; and RareElement Resources (United States) develops the BearLodge deposit in Wyoming. Therefore, if the variationin the source of raw materials of REMs continues to

pass from small to large and very large deposits, it maybe possible that in the future, the main criterion will bethe mineralogical composition of the REM ores.

REFERENCES

1. Zelikman, A.N.,Metallurgiya redkikh metallov (Metal-lurgy of Rare Metals), Moscow: Metallurgiya, 1980.

2. Kogan, B.I., Redkie metally: sostoyanie i perspektivy(Rare Metals: State and Prospects), Moscow: Nauka,1978.

3. Boyarko, G.I.,Metally Evrazii, 2003, no. 4, p. 72.

4. Usova, T.Yu., Sorosovskii Obrazovat. Zhurn, 2001,no.11, p. 79.

5. State of the World Market of Rare Earths, www.metall-torg.ru., 07.12.06.

6. Market of Rare-Earth Metals of China, Japan, andUnited States in 2005, www.metalltorg.ru., 20.03.06.

7. State and Prospects of the World and Domestic Marketof Nonferrous, Rare, and Noble Metals, Issue 11, 2002,

www.infogeo.ru.8. US Geological Survey, www.minerals.usgs.gov/miner-

als/pubs/commodity/rare_earth.

9. Rare Earth ElementsCritical Resources for HighTechnology, USGS Fast Sheet 087-02.2002, www.min-erals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/rare_earth.

10. www.metal-pages.com.

11. Development of Rare Earth Magnets Significantly Ris-ing, www.metal-pages.com, 08.09.06.

12. Scandium Outdistance Titanium, www.metal-pages.com,04.06.06.

13. Rare Earth Action Urged, www.metal-pages.com,06.12.06.

Table 4. Average prices for REMs to the end of 2007

REM Purity, %Price, $/kg

Oxide Metal

La 99.999.99 3.94.0 7.357.55

Ce 9899.99 3.63.7 8.78.9

Sm 9699.9 3.153.35 1213

Y 99.999.99 8.58.7 4446

Pr 9699.5 2633 4647

Nd 9699.99 3335 5051

Eu 9999.9 330350 620640

Gd 9999.99 2225 ~100

Tb 9999.99 570590 770790

Dy 9599.99 8487 124126

Er 9599.99 50300 250300

Yb 99.9 8295 260320

Lu 9999.99 10002500 ~8000

Misch metal (48% Ce) 7.27.3

Misch metal (25% La) 5.15.3

Spell: OK


10/10

Documents

17409218 Rare Earths Market