Mineral Journal - Ministry of Mines and Mining Development...Analytical Chemistry, MPhil in Metallurgy, PhD in Minerals Technology and Diploma of Imperial College in Electrochemical

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Beneficiation & Value Addition

ISSUE 4

INDEPENDEN

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ADDITION

Mineral Beneficiation & Value Addition 2

Professor Francis Gudyanga is a metallurgist who also has sound knowledge of the other aspects of the mining industry. He has the following academic qualifications : BSc (Hons) in Applied Chemistry, MSc in Analytical Chemistry, MPhil in Metallurgy, PhD in Minerals Technology and Diploma of Imperial College

in Electrochemical Engineering. He taught and carried out research in extractive metallurgy for many years at the University of Zimbabwe. He has also worked inindustry and R&D institutions such as SIRDC and

MINTEK of South Africa. He joined government in 2007 as Permanent Secretary of Science and Technology before his current position as Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Mines and Mining Development.

Design Editor - Shadreck Gurenje 0772946310 / 0716426767 email [email protected]

Editor’s NotEThe articles in this issue are being published with the primary and principal objective of promoting local mineral value addition by identifying value-add-ed products that are made from the country’s minerals.

In the majority of cases these value added products are manufactured in countries where Zimbabwe exports raw concentrates to. The ultimate objective of full value-addition is to produce products that fetch a premium in their markets, create jobs, grow the economy and ultimately lead to a better quality of life for all in Zimbabwe.

Professor Francis GudyangaPermanent Secretary of Ministry of Mines and

Mining Development.


ContentsArsenic p4Silicon p6Berlyllium p10Rare Earth Metals Extraction p12Rare Earth Metals Uses p14Rare Earth Metals Supply , Demand and Prices p16Phosphate p22


Arsenic makes up about 1.5 ppm (0.00015%) of the Earth’s crust, making it the 53rd most abundant el-ement. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in conjunction with sulfur and metals, and also as a pure elemental crystal. Arsenic An illustrative mineral is arsenopyrite (Fe-AsS), which is structurally related to iron pyrite. Many minor As-containing minerals are known. In Zimbabwe arsenopyrite is one of the major causes of refractoriness in gold. The mineral is unstable in cyanide solution, decom-posing to give a cyanicide, arsenite. This arsenite can attach onto gold surface thereby inhibiting further interaction between gold and reagents. This results in poor recovery of the gold.The main use of metallic arsenic is for strengthening alloys of copper and especially lead (for example, in car batteries). Arsenic is a common n-type dopant in semiconduc-tor electronic devices, and the optoelectronic com-pound gallium arsenide is the most common semi-conductor in use after doped silicon. Arsenic and its compounds, especially the trioxide, are used in the production of pesticides, treated wood products, herbicides, and insecticides. The arsenic is recovered mainly as a side product from the purification of copper. Arsenic is part of the smelter dust from copper, gold, and lead smelters.On roasting in air of arsenopyrite,

Arsenic

Arsenic is a common-type dopant in semiconductor electronic devices, and the optoelectronic compound gallium arsenide is the most common semiconductor in use after doped silicon.


arsenic sublimes as arsenic(III) oxide leaving iron ox-ides, while roasting without air results in the produc-tion of metallic arsenic. Further purification from sulfur and other chalco-gens is achieved by sublimation in vacuum or in a hydrogen atmosphere or by distillation from molten lead-arsenic mixture.The toxicity of arsenic to insects, bacteria, and fungi led to its use as a wood preservative. In the 1950s, a process of treating wood with chromated copper arse-nate (also known as CCA or Tanalith) was invented, and for decades, this treatment was the most extensive industrial use of arsenic. An increased appreciation of the toxicity of arsenic re-sulted in a ban for the use of CCA in consumer prod-ucts. Arsenic was also used in various agricultural in-secticides and poisons. For example, lead hydrogen arsenate was a common insecticide on fruit trees, but contact with the com-pound sometimes resulted in brain damage among those working the sprayers. In the second half of the 20th century, monosodium methyl arsenate (MSMA) and disodium methyl arse-nate (DSMA) – less- toxic organic forms of arsenic – have replaced lead arsenate in agriculture. Arsenic is used as a feed additive in poultry and swine productionto increase weight gain, improve feed effi-ciency, and to prevent disease. An example is roxarsone, which had been used as a broiler starter. However studies have shown elevat-ed levels of inorganic arsenic, a carcinogen, in treated chickens.Arsenic trioxide has been used in a variety of ways over the past 500 years, most commonly in the treat-ment of cancer, but in medications as diverse as Fowl-er’s solution in psoriasis. Recently, new research has been done in locating tumors using arsenic-74 (a pos-

itron emitter). The advantages of using this isotope instead of the previously used iodine-124 is that the signal in the PET scan is clearer as the body tends to transport io-dine to the thyroid gland producing signal noise. In subtoxic doses, soluble arsenic compounds act as stimulants, and were once popular in small doses as medicine by people in the mid-18th to 19th centuries.The main use of metallic arsenic is in alloying with lead. Lead components in car batteries are strengthened by the presence of a very small percentage of arsenic. Dezincification can be strongly reduced by adding ar-senic to brass, a copper-zinc alloy. “Phosphorus Deoxidized Arsenical Copper” with an arsenic content of 0.3% has an increased corrosion stability in certain environments.Gallium arsenide is an important semiconductor material, used in inte-grated circuits. Circuits made from GaAs are much faster (but also much more expensive) than those made in silicon. Unlike silicon, it has a direct bandgap, so can be used in laser diodes and LEDs to directly convert electricity into light.Arsenic is known to cause arsenicosis owing to its manifestation in drinking water, “the most common species being arsenate [HAsO2−4; As(V)] and arse-nite [H3AsO3; As(III)]”.Occupational exposure and arsenic poisoning may oc-cur in persons working in industries involving the use of inorganic arsenic and its compounds, such as wood preservation, glass production, nonferrous metal al-loys, and electronic semiconductor manufacturing. Inorganic arsenic is also found in coke oven emissions associated with the smelter industry.

The toxicity of arsenic to insects, bacteria, and fungi led to its use as a wood preservative


Zimbabwe exports in-dustrial sands from its rivers. These sands are the source of silicon. Sil-icon (Si, atomic number 14) is a group 14 non-metal, sit-uated between carbon and germanium. Silicon, in its pure form, is a grey metal-lically lustrous solid. It is the second most abundant ele-ment in the crust (27.5%), after oxygen (50.5%).

In nature, it is not found in its elemental form but occurs only in silicates and oxides (silica). Silicates ac-count for approximately 75% of the Earth’s crust; quartz is the most abundant form of free silica. Extreme-ly high purity quartz is re-quired to produce silicon metal. Lower grade quartz is used for a variety of applica-tions; these are described in the relevant section on silica sand. This section focuses on the production and uses of metallurgical grade sili-

con. Metallur-

gical grade sil-icon (MG-Si) is also known as silicon metal in the i n d u s t r y, not be-cause it has m e t a l l i c properties but due to its lustrous appearance. MG-Si is used in aluminium and chemical ap-plications; it is also a raw material for solar and electronic grade silicon but must be refined further

Silicon


to ultrahigh-purity grades. Pure silicon is a semiconductor; its elec-trical resistivity decreases with increasing temperature and with increasing concen-trations of elements such as boron, alu-minium, gallium and phosphorous. Its conductivity can be carefully con-trolled through doping. For this reason, silicon is used extensively in electronic devices such as transistors, printed circuit boards, integrated circuits and solar pan-els. Although silicon plays an important role in electronics, the quantities required are relatively small due to the small dimen-sions of electronic devices. The major uses of silicon by quantity are in metallurgy, such as the production of aluminium, and in the chemical industry. A supply chain map for silicon’s use in photovoltaics is as follows:Quartz min-erals are turned into MG-Si through car-bothermic reduction; this is then purified into polysilicon of suitable purity for use in solar cells, generally via the siemens process. This is a very energy intensive process and therefore requires high cost of pro-duction. For this reason poly-crystalline producers are often located in areas with low energy cost. In the next step, thin silicon wafers are produced. High-purity silicon is melt-ed into blocks which are then hardened. Square columns are made from the blocks and are then cut into silicon wafers. Thin wafers are advantageous as they require less material to be produced; however,

these can be difficult to handle. Silicon wafers are treated to enhance their

electrical and optical properties and are finally integrated into

panels. Silica as high purity quartz or quartzite is used as the raw material for silicon metal production. Quartz is one of the main products of slowly cooled silica-rich magmas; quartzite is a met-amorphic rock, which has suffered high temperatures

and pressure, and in which quartz is a major component.

No systematic data is avail-able on high-purity quartz and

quartzite mining and produc-tion. High purity quartz is current-

ly mined from deposits in Spruce Pine, North Carolina, Norway and Russia.Quartz is reduced to silicon metal by car-

bothermic reduction. This takes place in a furnace containing quartz and carbon materials, such as coke and charcoal. Molten silicon metal is pro-duced at the bottom of the furnace. The silicon produced has a purity of approx-imately 98.5%; the main impurities are iron, aluminium and calcium. Most silicon applications require further refining to reach 99.5% purity; this is done by treating the molten silica with oxidative gas and slag forming additives. Silicon of this purity is known as met-allurgical grade silicon and is used in the aluminium and chemical industries. Semiconductor and solar grade silicon (polysilicon) must be of ultra-high puri-ty (between 6N and 9N) to ensure semi-conducting properties; this is commonly done through the Siemens process. Global demand for silicon in 2010 was es-timated at 1.8 million tonnes. Demand for silicon grew on average by 8% annually between 2002 and 2012; a 20% reduction in the market was seen in 2009 but this was fully recovered in 2010. The main drive for this increment was de-mand from emerging countries and more recently from the expansion of the solar cell market; this moved from 3% of total silicon use in the mid-2000s up to 12% in 2010. The USGS reported that the worldwide production and consumption of ultra-high-grade silicon for use in solar and semiconductor applications rose by 62% to 235 thousand tonnes in 2011 compared to 2010; 89% was used in the solar cell market and the remaining in semicon-ductors. The major uses of silicon metal are shown in the table below:Other applications of silicon are in explosives, refractories and ceramics.The major uses of silicon are in the alu-minium and chemical industries, elec-tronic and solar uses are lower by tonnage but play an important role: • Aluminium:Silicon isdissolvedin molten aluminium to improve the viscosity of the liquid aluminium and to improve the mechanical properties of alu-minium alloys. There are two important groups of alu-minium alloys which contain silicon as a main element: casting alloys and wrought alloys. In the former the silicon content is 7% to 12%; wrought alloys contain magnesium and silicon, where the silicon content is between 0.5% and 1%. The primary use

is in castings in the automotive industry due to improved casting characteristics described above and the reduced weight of the components. • Chemical industry: Silicon isused to produce silicones, synthetic silica and silanes. Silicone products are used as surfactants, lubricant, sealants and adhe-sives, and in insulating rubbers among other uses. Synthetic silica is also known as fumed silica and is used fumed silica is as additives in silicone rubbers used to increase the mechanical strength and the elasticity of these elastomers. Silanes are used in the glass, ceramic, foundry and painting industries.• Solarcells:Siliconsolarcellsarethe most common cells used in commer-cially available solar panels. Crystalline silicon PV cells have laboratory energy conversion efficiencies as high as 25% for single-crystal cells and 20.4% for mul-ticrystalline cells. However, industrially produced solar modules currently achieve efficiencies ranging from 18%–24%. Solar cell prices dropped significantly in 2011, partly due to polysilicon selling price de-crease resulting from over production. • Electronics: Ultra-high puritygrade silicon is used for the production of silicon semiconductors. Semiconduc-tor-grade silicon metal used in making computer chips is crucial to modern tech-nology. Silicon recycling is in the form of alumin-ium scrap and through the recycling of WEEE. Recycling of pure silicon does not happen; the components are recycled as metal alloys to be used again as alloys. Ac-cording to Euroalliages, aluminium scrap contains 4% silicon; additional silicon has to be added to reach the average content of 7% to 12%. End-of-life recycling of silicon in the polysilicon market is difficult to concre-tise due to the fact that the polymarket is a relatively “new” market and the major part of the polysilicon in the solar indus-try has been used in the last five years and has not come to a point of recycling.


Local Government Public Services & National Housing Minister Hon Dr Ignatius Chombo (holding the Mineral beneficiation & Value Addition Magazine) chats with Enviroment Water & Climate Minister Hon Saviour Kasukuwere

Vice President Cde Phelekezela Mphoko and wife Mrs Mphoko holding the Mineral beneficiation & Value Addition Magazine during the 21st February celebrations in Victoria Falls.


Speaker of Parliament Advocate Jacob Mudenda reading the third addition of the Mineral beneficiation & Value Addition Magazine

From left : Home Affairs Minister Hon Kembo Mohadi & wife Senator Tambudzani Mohadi , Higher and Tertiary Education Science Technology Development Minister Hon Oppah Muchinguri enjoy the third addition of Mineral beneficiation & Value Addition Magazine


Beryllium (Be, atomic number 4, formerly also known as glucini-um) is a bluish-white, shiny, hard and brittle metal and is highly toxic if inhaled in dust form, leading to berylliosis. It is a light metal with hexagonal-close-packed structure.

Very low density in combination with strength, high melting point, and resistance to acids make beryllium a useful material for structural parts that are exposed to great inertial or centrif-ugal forces.Beryllium is a relatively rare element with a concentration of about 3 ppm (0.0003%, 5th tier) in the earth’s crust. Until the late 1960s the only beryllium mineral commercially exploited was beryl. Today the most important commercial beryllium mineral is bertrandite ore which is ex-tracted from ores containing 0.2-0.35% beryllium. Zimbabwe has beryl-lium ore sources containing >5ppm making it a commercially valuable mineral.As noted above, with an abundance of 3 ppm in the Earth’s crust, beryl-lium is a relatively rare element compared to some other metals. Never-theless it is concentrated in some minerals, predominantly in beryl and bertrandite. World identified resources of beryllium content in ores are more than 80,000 tonnes, of which around 65% are located in the USA; though, because of the military relevance of beryllium, information on reserves and applications is limited.

Total production of beryllium metal is estimated to be 259 tonnes in 2011, rising from 193 tonnes in 2010. The USA is the main producer of beryllium and only three countries process beryllium ores into beryllium products.After mining the ores they are first converted to an acid-soluble form by fusion. To obtain comparatively pure beryllium hydroxide or oxide, and in a further step beryllium chloride or fluoride, complex chemical

processes are used. These halogenides are then reduced to metallic be-ryllium with other metals or by melt electrolysis. The beryllium metal obtained is subject to one or more refining pro-cesses and finally to further treatment by powder metallurgy or in some cases fusion metallurgy. The metal or other product is then incorporat-ed into the end product, before being sent on for use. Prices have remained relatively constant for long periods; however, there was a large drop after 2000 from US$850 000/tonne to US$370 000/tonne linked to a reducing market size and sales of US stockpiles. Beryllium’s superior chemical, mechanical and thermal properties make it a favourable material for high technology equipment (e.g. in aerospace) for which low weight and high rigidity are important quali-ties. A large share of the world beryllium production is used for military purposes. Due to the high price, only small amounts of beryllium are used in the civilian sector. The main use of beryllium is the production of CuBe alloy, which inherits some of the unique properties of beryillium metal with extreme resistance to corrosion and to mechanical wear, high di-mensional stability through a wide range of temperatures. CuBe alloy is widely used in modern aeronautics for instance in landing gear components or in electric/ electronic connectors. It is also used for the manufacture of moulds for the production of the formed plastic

Beryllium“ Beryllium is a relatively rare element with a concentration of about 3 ppm (0.0003%, 5th tier) in the earth’s crust. Until the late 1960s the only beryllium mineral commer-cially exploited was bery”

objects and for the production of paramagnetic tooling. The Main uses of beryllium are:• Consumer electronics and telecommunications products:Beryllium is used due to its favourable electric conductivity. • Engineering/construction:Alloyswithberylliumfinduseinstructural parts that have to be light but are exposed to great forces (e.g. aircraft industry). In this field the mechanical and thermal properties of beryllium are vital.• Ceramics: Beryllium oxide (BeO) is used for high perfor-mance ceramics. • Specialtyapplications:Differentproperties(e.g.x-raytrans-parency) make beryllium valuable in applications in medical devices, physical instruments or in the efforts to develop controlled nuclear fu-sion reactors.

The market outlook forecast for world beryllium demand shows world beryllium demand increasing in 2012 with the baseline of 430 tonnes, rising to 500 tonnes by 2020, at an overall rate of 1.8% per year. The larger increases are expected to be for defence applications and increased demand for beryllium based-metals used in commercial applications such as (nonmedical and industrial) x-ray products and semiconductor processing equipment, as well as the advent of new types of beryllium alloys. Beryllium is recycled from old scrap, as well as from new scrap origi-nating from the manufacturing of beryllium products. Detailed recy-cling data are not available but experts from USGS estimate that recy-cling accounts for around 30% of the actual consumption. Recovery of beryllium metal from post-consumer scrap (e.g. elec-tronics scrap) is difficult because of the small size of the components and the low beryllium metal content in the copper alloys of the components

(average 1.25% beryllium). Therefore, most of the scrap is recycled for its copper content (which leads to a high beryllium recycling value) and the beryllium is immo-bilized in slag. This leads to very low end-of-life recycling rates for be-ryllium. Due to its high costs beryllium is only used when crucial. Therefore substitution in these applications is generally not viable. Nevertheless titanium, high-strength grades of aluminium or pyrolytic graphite may replace beryllium (composites) for some uses. Beryllium-copper alloys sometimes are substituted with other copper alloys containing nickel and silicon, titanium or tin as alloying ele-ments. These substitutions can result in performance losses.Several countries have restrictions concerning trade with beryllium. According to the OECD´s inventory on export restrictions, Russia uses export taxes on beryllium waste and scrap and China has a licensing agreement on unwrought beryllium, powders and articles thereof. There is a wide range of other countries imposing trade restrictions on beryllium.

Mineral Beneficiation & Value Addition 11Mineral Beneficiation & Value Addition 11

The extraction of beryllium from its main sources beryl and

bertrandite involves several stages, illustrated in the figure below.

End-use of Beryllium (by weight)

Mechanical Equipment 25%

Electronic equipment & domestic appliances 20%

Electronics and IT 20%

Road transport 15%

Aircraft, shipbuilding and trains 10%

Metals 3%

Rubber, plastics and glass 3%

Others 4%

Source: Beryllium Science and Technology Association: http://beryllium.eu/about-beryllium-and-

beryllium-alloys/uses-and-applications-of-beryllium/, accessed 26th August

2013;Ullmann’s Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry: Beryllium and Beryllium

Compounds, Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 2005


After concentration REE bear-ing minerals, rare earth ele-ments have to be extracted from the concentrate.Several procedures for decom-position of REE bearing miner-als are available. The major part includes thermal treatment of the ore in the presence of acid-ic or caustic reagents. Depend-ing on the composition of the ore concentrate an appropriate method is identified.Acid baking with sulfuric acid is a very common process. The powdered ore is mixed with concentrated sulfuric acid and baked at temperatures be-tween 200 and 400 °C for sev-eral hours. The resulting cake is leached with water to dissolve REE as sulfates. Optimal reac-tion conditions and reagent use have to be matched specifically with each tested ore. There are different factors influencing the reaction, e.g. the presence of iron oxide leading to an in-creased consumption of acid. At roasting temperatures above 300 °C the recovery of REE de-creases in most cases, while Th leaching is also reduced. Since thorium is generally an unde-sired leaching product, roasting temperature will be a trade-off between REE recovery and Th leaching.

Acid baking is a standard pro-cess since it is applicable for

Rare EarthMetals Extraction

(Hydrometallurgy)

Rare Earth Extraction Processes


many of the common rare earth minerals such as monazite, bastnaesite, xenotime, apatite or aeschynite. Decomposition in HCl is commonly applied for car-bonate minerals like bastnaesite, parisite, synchisite or similar minerals but can be also used to decompose allanite, cerite or gadolinite. The ore is stirred in concentrated HCl at temperatures > 90 °C. If the ore contains fluorine (e.g. bastnaesite), a part of the REE forms insoluble REE-fluorides re-maining in the solid residue. To recover those REE the solid residue has to undergo an additional decomposition with sodium hydroxide, to convert the fluorides into hydroxides and soluble sodium fluoride. Fluorides are washed away and REE hydroxides are dissolved by excess HCl in the leaching liquor from the HCl decomposition step.

In the presence of calcite or similar carbonate phases in the ore, a leach with diluted HCl at room tempera-ture is appropriate to purify the ore prior to decom-position as these reaction conditions will dissolve unwanted carbonate phases without attacking bastn-aesite.

A special ore is eudialyte. It is easily soluble in any min-eral acid thus decomposition is rather simple. Never-theless, it is often accompanied by zeolites, which tend to form silica gels upon dissolution in acid. Depending on the zeolite content different precau-tions have to be taken during decomposition to mini-mize the formation of gels.Alternatively caustic decomposition can be applied to specific ores. The most common process is decomposition with sodium hydroxide being applicable for monazite and bastnaesite. The ore is mixed with 50-60 wt.-%NaOH and is decomposed at T > 140 °C. Rare earths are transformed to hydroxides, while phosphates (from monazite) or carbonates and fluo-rides (from bastnaesite) are transformed into soluble sodium salts that can be washed off. The resulting sol-ids are leached in diluted HCl.The choice of decomposition method depends on various factors. Often caustic decomposition results in more pure products, but if the ore contains several different minerals a process capable of decomposing all of them has to be defined. Since in most cases non-neglibile amounts of non REE-containing side components are present in the mineral concentrates, the effectivity of a process will usually be affected by the latter. Another point to be taken into consideration is regional availability of re-agents.Once REE are solubilized, they have to be separated from co-leached elements. After removal of impurities e.g. by pH dependent pre-cipitation, REE are typically precipitated as oxalates or carbonates, from which REE-oxides can be obtained by calcination. If necessary, residual thorium can be removed from the oxides by dissolving them in nitric acid and ex-traction of the resulting solution with organophos-phates.

“ Rare earths are transformed to hydroxides, while phosphates (from monazite) or carbon-ates and fluorides (from bast-naesite) are transformed into soluble sodium salts that can be washed off. The resulting solids are leached in diluted HCl.”


Rare Earth Metals (REMs) uses

Rare earth elements (REEs), or rare earth met-als (REMs), are a set of 17 chemical elements in the periodic table, consisting of the 15 lan-thanides plus scandium and yttrium. Promethium is a synthetic mineral that is artificially produced in lab-oratories; all other REMs occur naturally. REMs are usually mixed together in mineral deposits of bastna-site, monazite, or laterite and may also have low-lev-el thorium (TH) or uranium (U) deposits that create a hazardous waste during mining and mineral ex-traction operations. In addition, REMs are sometimes byproducts of mining for iron, copper, gold, and other metals. These elements are relatively plentiful in the earth’s crust; however, they are typically dispersed and not often found in economically exploitable ore de-posits. From one type of ore, more than 12 rare earth elements can be extracted through complex chemical processing. Complicating the extraction of REMs is the fact that they are always found together, are diffi-cult to separate, and almost always occur with other heavy elements including radioactive uranium and thorium, making processing and waste disposal a reg-ulatory problem. In addition, each deposit contains a different blend of rare earths and may not contain the ones needed by industry, typically the heavy rare earths. REMs can be grouped in “Light” and “Heavy” class-es, depending on their atomic weight. Light rare earth metals are lanthanum to samarium and the heavy rare earth metals are europium through lutetium. Of the 17 elements, 5 are considered to be the most econom-ically critical. They are: neodymium, yttrium, europi-um, terbium, and dysprosium. The term “rare earth” is somewhat of a misnomer in that these elements are fairly common in the earth’s crust. However, deposits large enough for econom-ically viable mining operations are harder to find. Major mineral deposits can be found in China, the U.S., Canada, Russia, Australia, Vietnam, Uzbeki-stan, Kazakhstan, and other areas. As mining history has shown, reserves are often underestimated until a

major demand triggers more exploration and devel-opment of better extraction methods to improve the recovery rates in order to meet the new demand. This may prove to be the case for REMs. At an average concentration in the Earth’s crust of 60 parts per million (ppm), cerium is more abundant than copper, followed in decreasing order, by yttrium at 33 ppm, lanthanum at 30 ppm, and neodymium at 28 ppm. Thulium and lutetium, the least abundant of the lanthanides at 0.5 ppm, occur in the Earth’s crust in higher concentrations than antimony, bismuth, cadmium, and thallium. The types of mineral depos-its and concentration levels vary significantly by loca-tion. A 2011 report from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) estimated that China has 36% of the total known re-serves of rare earth metals, the Commonwealth of In-dependent States has 19%, and the United States con-trols 13% of the world’s reserves. REMs are used in a number of different products to enhance operating efficiency and reduce weight, complexity, and footprint. Demand for REM ore has increased significantly in the past decade with the advent of electric vehicles, wind-turbine power gener-ation, laptop computers and smart phones. The table below provides an overview of current REM usage. The highlighted items show areas of potential impact; however, many suppliers consider this information confidential, so some uses may not be listed. Two of the REMs, neodymium and dysprosium, are used together to produce highly efficient magnets with broad application for green energy products. Neodymium-iron-boron permanent magnets are used extensively in the production of hard disk drives. Neodymium is the most highly regulated element in China’s export plan due to China’s need to address pressing environmental issues, and is considered stra-tegic in supporting Chinese companies that are trying to dominate the production of products addressing this market segment.


Rare Earth Elements and Selected Examples of Usages

Symbol Name Selected Application

Sc Scandium Optical fibers, light aluminum-scandium alloy for

aerospace components, additive in mercury-vapor

lamps, ceramics, phosphors

Y Yttrium Yttrium Microwave filters, yttrium is used as host for

the red fluorescent lamp phosphor Y2O3:Eu3+; yttrium

is also important for ceramics: yttria-stabilized zirconia

La Lanthanum Lanthanum NiMH battery, high refractive index glass,

flint, hydrogen storage, battery electrodes, camera

lenses, fluid catalytic cracking catalyst for oil refineries

Ce Cerium Polishing powders, chemical oxidizing agent, yellow

colors in glass and ceramics, catalyst for self-cleaning

ovens, fluid catalytic cracking catalyst for oil refineries,

ferrocerium flints for lighters

Pr Praseodymium Rare-earth magnets, including for hard disk drives

lasers, core material for carbon arc lighting, colorant in

glasses and enamels, additive in didymium glass used in

welding goggles, ferroceriumfiresteel (flint) products

Nd Neodymium Rare-earth magnets including for hard disk drives,

ceramic capacitors, lasers, violet colors in glass and

ceramics

Pm Promethium Nuclear batteries

Sm Samarium Samarium Rare-earth magnets, electro-mechanical

relays, lasers, neutron capture, masers

Eu Europium Red and blue phosphors, lasers, mercury-vapor lamps,

NMR shift reagent

Gd Gadolinium Rare-earth magnets, computer memories, high refractive

index glass or garnets, lasers, X-ray tubes, neutron

capture, MRI contrast agent

Tb Terbium Optical fiber, ceramics, green phosphors, lasers,

fluorescent lamps

Dy Dysprosium Rare-earth magnets including for hard disk drives, lasers


The United States historically produced the majority of REMs used in the world from the Molycorp Mountain Pass mine in Cal-ifornia. China increased production of REMs over the last few decades and, in the last few years, has

undertaken a very aggressive strategy leading to increased production, choosing to limit

environmental regulation and employ cheap labor.

This has effectively priced competitors out of the market. China now con-trols more than 95% of the production and refinement of these metals. This strate-gy has driven down prices and forced the shutdown of nearly every mine outside of China. Specifically, a weak market in the early 2000s, combined with tighten-ing environmental restric-tions in the United States, closed down production in

the Americas in 2002. In late 2009, China started to place

restrictions on the export of REMs, giving preferential treat-

ment to Chinese companies.

This has caused prices for REMs to soar on the interna-tional market and has created the potential for shortages of critical miner-

als used in a variety of different industries. In fact, shortages have begun to be realized in certain regions of the world. A number of countries, including the United States,

Rare Earth Metals: supply, dEmaNd aNd pricEs


Australia, Canada, and Russia hold significant deposits that can supply most of their domestic needs and even allow for exports. However, it may take up to 10 years to get new or mothballed mines operational. Start-up costs and environmental concerns are key factors that have to be addressed before necessary per-mits can be obtained. It is estimated that between 15% and 20% of REMs could come from sources outside of China by 2020. Recent findings by Gareth Hatch estimate that there are at least 429 REM projects underway outside of China and India. These projects involve 261 different companies in 37 countries. There are 36 projects formally defined with 12 operations in Canada, 7 in sub-Saharan Africa, 6 in Australia, 4 in the U.S., 3 in Greenland, and one each in Sweden, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, and Brazil. In the United States, the Molycorp Mine in Mountain Pass, Cal-ifornia, has reopened and is producing REMs. However, it will likely take many years for production to reach levels that will supply enough REMs to support the increasing demand world-wide. Ironically, one of its biggest customers is China, but Molycorp is also exporting significant quantities to Japan. Lynas Corp. (Australia) has resumed production and Great North Western opened new mining and smelting operations in 2012. These are just a few examples of new REM operations being brought into production globally. Japan, the world’s largest importer of rare earths, has a number of industries that are highly dependent on REMs. They are funding new mining ventures in Australia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, India and Vietnam. Japan has reached agreements with India to meet approximately 15% of their demand. Japan signed an agreement in December 2012 to import 4,100 metric tons of rare earths a year from India to supply the metals used in everything from mobile phones and hybrid cars to mis-sile guidance systems. A joint venture between Sumitomo Cor-poration and Kazakhstan’s National Atomic Company to develop dysprosium, completed construction and opened its first factory on November 2, 2012. The new factory has begun manufacturing mixed rare earth carbonate with a high content of dysprosium and neodymium, elements for which demand is expected to rise in the coming years due to the growing popularity of hybrid and electric cars. The factory has set an annual output target of 3,000 metric tons of dysprosium by 2015. Furthermore, Japan will get an estimat-ed 9,000 metric tons a year of rare earths from Australia’s Lynas Corporation and 10,000 metric tons per year from Molycorp Inc. (MCP) of the U.S. The electronics industry takes into account the following factors into considerations: • Specific critical uses of REMs in electronic productsand total quantities needed • TheoverallworldwidedemandforREMsforalluses• Theextensivetimerequiredtoessentiallyre-structurethe entire REM supply chain • Thecurrentlackofavailabilityofalternativematerials• Thetimeandknowledgerequiredtodevelopnewtech-nologies that could reduce or eliminate the need for REMs • TheimplicationsofChina’spoliciesanddominanceofREM supplies Some affected industries, particularly the battery, lighting, cata-lyst and magnet industries are developing policies and alterna-

tive technologies to reduce their dependence on REMs and/or mitigate risks to their supply chains. In addition to mining operations, work is underway within orga-nizations such as iNEMI (International Electronics Manufactur-ing Initiative), government agencies, and individual companies to improve the overall availability of REMs. Activities include recycling products to extract minerals, reducing the concentra-tion levels of critical elements, improving ore extraction tech-niques which may allow additional minerals to be extracted from previously mined ores, and may improve the extraction rates for newly mined minerals, as well as exploring substitutes to reduce dependencies on REMs. The Department of Energy recently has committed $120M over five years to the DOE Critical Materials Institute to diversify sup-ply, develop substitutes, and improve reuse and recycling. The Critical Materials Institute team is led by DOE Ames Laborato-ry, with the team including three additional DOE National Labs, seven universities, and seven industrial partners. In addition, Ja-pan has committed $65 million (5 billion yen) to reduce the need for REMs. Major electronics companies are developing motors that do not contain any REMs, and there are plans to introduce REM-free small-magnets for hard disk drive (HDD) applica-tions. However, it is a challenge to develop REM-free permanent magnets for high-voltage (HV) applications. As the supply has tightened, demand for REM ore has increased. Every hybrid automobile, most batteries, every electronic device, every fiber-optic amplifier, every LED, every fluorescent light, and every wind turbine contains rare earth metals. China’s economic growth has also increased domestic demand as high-tech products such as computers, transportation, energy generation and military systems are increasingly manufactured domestically. Reports indicate that, within the next few years, China would become a net importer of rare earths. The figure be-low shows how significantly the demand for REMs has increased over the last decade. This growth in demand is expected to continue for the foresee-able future, driven largely by the global trend toward green en-ergy products. Much of this growth is expect to occur in China due to the Chinese government’s need to produce more energy to address the large projected growth in individual incomes and re-sulting demand for energy. The demand for the rest of the world is expected to continue to increase as the drive toward green en-ergy production increases worldwide. The overall supply outlook over the next three to five years is expected to generally keep pace with demand due to increased production quotas by China, new mining operations outside of China coming online, and other governmental and industry ac-tions by REM users. Not all REMs are in short supply. There are however, certain REMs that may experience spot shortages, especially those used in green energy applications. Figure 6 provides an outlook devel-oped by the U.S. Department of Energy in 2011, and shows that the minerals of most concern for the energy market are neodym-ium, dysprosium, europium, yttrium, and terbium. The situation has changed somewhat since these predictions were made as will be discussed in the next section; however, it provides a good watch list to monitor closely over the next one to three years.

China’s rare earth industry started in the 1950s and has become


the largest producer, consumer and exporter. China doesn’t want to focus on raw rare earth ore extraction. The country has a stat-ed goal to increase the amount of higher value-added exports such as REM magnets, wind turbines, consumer electronics, and batteries for hybrid and electric vehicles. In 2011, China announced a 35% reduction in the export quota for raw REM ores. In response, companies that consume REM materials began to stockpile reserves to supplement their current supplies. Many REM magnet suppliers stockpiled raw materials to support production through late 2011. Most of the REM mag-net suppliers that support the electronics industry did not see any supply issues impacting their shipment plans. However, companies that use the REM magnets found they needed to increase their use of China-made magnets, which are not subject to export quota restrictions. The rapid drop in rare earth exports from China and resulting ramp in pricing has caused a number of countries to take action to address the supply and cost of these minerals. REMs have been declared “strategic” by a number of countries due to their importance to the military and industries developing green energy products, especially power generation and automo-tive applications. The export restrictions and rapid price escalation have served as a wake-up call to many government bodies that had been com-placent prior to 2010. In June 2011, the United States requested the World Trade Orga-nization (WTO) to establish a dispute settlement panel to decide U.S. claims regarding China’s export restraints on rare earths, tungsten and molybdenum. The U.S. move was joined by the Eu-ropean Union and Japan. The WTO case argues that the export quotas and tariffs violate free trade rules by putting pressure on companies to move their factories to China if they want to tap China’s vast supply of rare earths. The case is under deliberation and outcome and timing are uncertain. In response, China issued a white paper claiming that after more than 50 years of excessive mining, the decline of rare earth re-sources in major mining areas is accelerating, as most of the orig-inal resources have been depleted. China’s rare earth industry has huge over-capacity in smelting and separating. In addition, inefficient mining and refining prac-tices squandered scarce mineral reserves and produced extensive emissions of radioactive residues, heavy metals and other con-taminants.

In 2010, China reduced exports by approximately 40% due to increased domestic demand in China to drive their green energy strategy and the Chinese government’s need to address mining operations that were causing major environmental damage due to poor mining practices, especially in illegal/unauthorized op-erations. There is some contention in international circles that there is ma-nipulation underlying this action by the Chinese government to protect their domestic industry and put them in a position to move up the value chain beyond just producing minerals. Regardless of the reasons, these actions have resulted in a rapid escalation of REM pricing, especially for lanthanum oxide and

neodymium oxide, which more than doubled in price between 2009 and 2010. During 2011, manufacturers saw a significant increase in the pricing of the raw materials due to export restrictions, and speculative com-modity trading. China’s rare earth market was largely opaque, as transactions were not made in public markets and always ran in small vol-umes. Only limited amounts of pricing and transac-tion data have been made available to the pub-lic. In response to worldwide concern over the export quotas, China launched a physical trad-ing platform for rare earth metals as part of its efforts to regulate the sector and strengthen its pricing power for the resources. The Inner Mon-golia Baotou Steel Rare-Earth (Group) Hi-Tech Co., China’s top rare earth producer, launched the platform together with nine other firms and institutions. Industry sources have stated that much of the price ramp over the last two years was due to speculation and hoarding. For example, at the peak of the escalation praseodymium oxide rose more than 500% between December 2010 (US$46/kg) and August 2011 (US$250/kg) due to speculation. The price has continually dropped since Au-gust 2011 and Nd was selling for ~US$86/kg) in April 2013. The drop was partially due to older mining opera-tions coming back online or the start of new production.

Prices peaked on Nd (US$350/kg) and Dy (US$2700/kg) in Ju-ly-August 2011, both prices dropped significantly by July 2012 with Nd now selling for US$86/kg and Dy selling for US$775/kg due to users reducing their consumption and looking for alterna-tive materials which seriously softened demand. As an example, companies that make magnets for things such as spindle motors for HDD applications (which use Nd magnet and magnet mo-tors) and air-conditioning (which use Dy), have already started using magnets containing 50% of the Dy used in conventional REM magnets. From historical pricing trends for a selected group of light and heavy rare earth oxides, the expectation is that prices will contin-ue to rise as the demand increases for certain rare earths. Due to the volatility of the market over the past four years it is difficult to get exact prices. There are many conflicting trends that make prediction of prices and supply extremely difficult. Factors pressuring prices and supply include: • Strong automobile production, with China now theworld’s largest manufacturer of automobiles. • Robust hard drive demand for enterprise and cloudstorage. Although flash memory is anticipated to gain significant market share the installed base of HDDs is in the millions. • Similarlyrobustdemandforwindenergy,amajorcon-sumer of rare earth magnets.


•

Increasing fluorescent light lumens-per-watt output regulations in the U.S., which have increased rare earth demand. • Crackdownsonillegalexportsofrareearths,tighteningenvironmental regulations in China and the idling of facilities in Baotou due to stockpiles of materials. Potentially increasing supply and reducing prices: • ExpansionsatMolycorpandreducedpoliticalpressureon Lynas following the Malaysian elections. • Over 450 rare earth mining projects under develop-ment, with 293 in Canada alone! Although many of these are early stage, they will definitely increase supply long term. • If theWTO action is successful, China may have todrop its export tax. Chinese Export Quotas The full year quota for 2013 was increased by 2.7% from 2012 levels. Governments as well as individual corporations have maintained pressure on Beijing to loosen its grip. The quota increase may be more symbolic than anything, as ex-port levels have fallen sharply, global trade accounting for only half of the 2012 quota. Exports of rare-earth minerals fell 36.7% in the first seven months of 2012. Prices of rare earth elements tumbled after a speculative bubble burst in 2011. Prices are likely to erode further as new supplies hit the market and exports edge higher from dominant producer China due to weak demand at home. Lanthanum, used in rechargeable batteries for hybrid autos,

jumped 26-fold from $5.15/kg in January 2010 to a peak of $140 in June 2011. Although in 2012 the price slid to $20.50, it was still well above earlier lows. The market has firmed in recent months, but new output from Molycorp and Lynas is likely to pressure prices. In 2011, USGS published “Rare Earth Elements – End Use and Recyclability” (Scientific Report 2011-5094). It estimated that of the 90,400 tons of rare earth scrap produced, 65% went to land-fill, 23% to construction aggregate, 9% to downgraded use (e.g., re-bar alloy) and the balance was stockpiled with less than 1% recycled. The report assesses the recyclability of various streams. Many of the materials, such as cerium or lanthanum polishing com-pounds or the materials used in NiMH batteries, may not be eco-nomical because of the low rare earth price, contamination with hazardous materials (e.g., refining catalysts), low concentration, or the lack of a take-back or recycling mechanism. Certain other materials, such as rare earth magnets, are much more amenable to extraction because of their concentration and value but an economic judgment has to be made in the case of each recycled material stream bearing in mind the value of the rare earths, their abundance in the waste stream and the overall cost of recovery including process materials, energy and the re-sponsible disposal of any unsellable impurities. Realistically, only about one-third of the rare earth tonnage is of high enough value to recycle at current prices. This one-third, however, contains all the strategically important and diffi-

Rare earths supply and demand in motor industry


cult-to-substitute rare earths essential for electronics, automotive and clean energy production. Scientists at the U.S. Department of En-ergy’s Ames Laboratory are working to more effectively remove neodymium from the mix of other materials in a REM magnet. Initial results show recycled ma-terials maintain the properties that make rare-earth magnets useful. The goal is to make new magnet alloys from recycled REMs that will be similar to alloys made from unprocessed rare-earth materials. Many organizations have been closely monitoring the REM marketplace and have contacted major suppliers to deter-mine usage of REM in products and to get their assessment of the near and long term supply of the needed minerals. Elec-tronics industry suppliers use very small quantities of REMs, for a limited set of component types.

These include higher quality factor “Q”s in microwave ceramic materials, electro-me-chanical relays, ceramic capacitors, chip resistors, optical amplifiers, transformers, LEDs, inductors, magnets, microwave/light wave isolators, power supplies and buzzers, and hard disk drives. Although often identified as impacting semiconductors, relatively small quan-tities are needed for the slurries used for semiconductor polishing, the dopants sometimes used in optical components such as lasers, the magnetic films used for spin-polarized memories and the oxides used in advanced high-k dielectrics. It should be noted that not all of the elec-tronics industry suppliers that produce these part types use REMs. According to Arnold Magnetic Technolo-gies’ report in 2012, hard disk drive, CD and DVD systems alone accounted for 14% of the global Nd demand in 2010 and forecasted to be 16% in 2015.

However, some companies view the sup-ply for these minerals to be adequate at this time since the amounts used per drive are trivial when compared to prod-ucts such as direct drive wind power gen-eration turbines that can use up to 550 pounds (~250kg) of rare earths per mega-watt. In addition, there have been very few reported cases where a supplier asked for a price increase due to higher REM prices. Due to the low quantities used by many component suppliers within the electron-ics industry, there is a concern that if a shortage develops these suppliers may not be able to source the required quantities needed to build their products. Major suppliers that use the minerals had been taking steps to secure supply by cre-ating stockpiles of REMs against future demand. In the longer term, they are taking steps to reduce dependency on REMs by in-troducing alternate materials, qualifying

RARE EARTHS SUPPLY AND DEMAND

The figure below shows how significantly the demand for REMs has increased

over the last decade.


mineral sources outside of China, and working with Chinese companies that are not subject to the export quotas imposed by the Chinese government. None of the contacted suppliers have reported insufficient quantities to meet their demand. We will continue to mon-itor the situation to ensure that produc-tion requirements are being met. It should be noted that alternate mate-rials may increase the size and cost of products and OEMs may incur addition-al qualification cost if REMs are removed from existing products. It is never comfortable to rely on a “sole source” supply relationship that may be vulnerable to political or natural disas-ters. It is even more uncomfortable in this case when alternative suppliers like Molycorp and Lynas face strong political or eco-nomic headwinds. China’s export restrictions highlighted the need for multiple sources of supply. It is important that the electronics indus-try develop several alternative sources of supply through mining or recycling, to stabilize supply and pricing. The electronics industry is subject to re-peated and significant demand swings based on macroeconomic condi-tions and seasonality as well as longer-wavelength product cy-cle swings. As a result of this and other investigations, we can con-clude that there should not be severe impacts on supply or cost of REMs over the next one to two years. With new sources of supply coming online, alternate solutions being developed, recycling and REM usage reduction, and global political pres-sure, some of the shortages and price increases experi-enced over the last two years are expected to ease consider-ably. We expect prices to stabilize and, in some cases, continue to decrease over the next one to two years. In the mid- to long-term, 2+ years, it is more difficult to predict supply/demand ratios

and pricing.

There are still a number of uncertainties such as usage rates, environmental im-pact affecting political acceptability of mining/refining operations both inside and outside of China, and profitability of new mining and/or refining operations. Our view is that the most likely scenario is that there will be volatility in both sup-ply and pricing over the next 3 to 5 years. There may be spot shortages during that timeframe, especially on those REMs used in green energy and automotive ap-plications such as neodymium, dyspro-sium, europium, yttrium, and terbium. Neodymium and dysprosium are specif-ically of concern.

While the current REM availability is not critically compromised at this time, pru-dence dictates that a proactive approach is best for the following reasons: • Theunpredictabilityof therateof increase in demand • Unknown potential for newtechnologies to decrease future d e -

mand • Volatility of the political andregulatory climate, both nationally and internationally A proactive approach includes: • Gathering of all relevant dataregarding current use, production, and status of technological advances in alter-native solutions • Trackingof thisdataover timeto monitor the speed of progress and the rate of change of demand • Maintaining vigilance with re-spect to potential technical, regulatory and political developments that may af-fect REM issues This approach will allow the electronics industry to be in a position to react in an informed and timely manner when strategic decisions are needed without the need to waste crucial time gathering and analyzing data. The industry should be continuously defining and evaluat-ing potential future developments and have plans in place to appropriately react should the need arise.


Dorowa is a village in the province of Mani-caland, Zimbabwe located 3 km south of the Save River in the Upper Save valley about 90 km west of Mutare. The village grew up around the opencast Dorowa Mine where phosphate was discov-ered in 1945. The mine produces all of Zimbabwe’s

phosphate.Phosphate rock consists mainly of apatite minerals.

The term phosphate rock describes a range of com-mercially mined phosphorus-bearing minerals, which are mainly utilized to produce fertilisers. Other applications are e.g., detergents and animal feedstocks. Phosphate rock is the only important resource for phosphorus production worldwide.Phosphorus is vital for all living things, plants and

animals. The growing world population and thus, the growing need for food leads to an increased de-

mand for phosphate fertilizers for agriculture. It is estimated that the world consumption of phosphorus

pentoxide will increase from 42 million tonnes in 2012 to 45 million tonnes in 2016. Sedimentary marine phosphorites are the principal de-

Supply chain diagram for phosphate rock in fertilizers

Mine

PhosphateRock

Beneficiation Concentrates


Concentrates Processing Phosphorous Fertilizers Agriculture


Food

Phosphate


posits for phosphate rock. Depending on the miner-alogical, textural and chemical characteristics (e.g., ore grade, impurities), as well as the local availability of water around the mining site, different refining pro-cesses are applied to obtain phosphate rock concen-trates. Processing of phosphorite creates large tonnag-es of waste phosphogypsum. The largest share (82%) of the produced phosphorus is used for fertilizers. Supply chain diagram for phosphate rock in fertilizersExploration activities and mine expansions took place in Australia and Africa in 2011.There are two major projects in Africa: the expansion of a phosphate mine in Morocco and a new project off the Namibian coast. Smaller projects are under various stages of development in several African countries, such as Angola, Congo (Brazzaville), Guin-ea-Bissau, Ethiopia, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Uganda, and Zambia. Expansion of production ca-pacity was planned in Egypt, Senegal, South Africa, Tunisia, and Togo. Other development projects for new mines or expan-sions are on-going in Brazil, China, and Kazakhstan.Following a peak in prices in 1975, phosphate rock prices decreased steadily until the late 80s followed by a relatively stable price. A sharp increase was experienced in 2006 with prices

peaking to an all-time high in 2009. Lower prices in 2010 are thought to be due to the economic crisis. Pure phosphorus, partially obtained from phosphate rock, is used for the production of chemicals. Phosphorus is a vital part of plant and animal nour-ishment. The largest share of phosphorus is used as basis for nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium fertilisers, globally utilised on food crops. Besides fertilisers, phosphate is also used in dishwa-ter powders and detergents and to produce calcium phosphate feed supplements for animals. Guano, bone meal or other organic sources are of less eco-nomic importance as phosphate sources, because of the higher cost per unit. The market outlook for the world supply and demand for phosphates indicates a market currently witness-ing a slight surplus, which is expected to increase over the coming decade to give a moderate to large surplus by the middle and end of the decade. Demand is expected to grow at around 2% per year, for the largest market of fertilisers, and also for the phosphates market overall. The major demand driv-ers are increased application of phosphate fertilisers, particularly in India, but also in Brazil and to a lesser extent in China. On the supply-side, considerable increases in world capacity and production of phosphate rock and also phosphoric acid means that the market is expected to remain in surplus. The most significant increases are expected to take place in Africa and China, and also in Brazil (for phosphoric acid). Capacity utilisa-tion rates are expected to remain at around 80% in the coming decade. Phosphate rock is not recyclable, and for its applica-tion in agriculture, phosphate rock cannot be replaced. Furthermore, phosphate rock is a non-renewable re-source.In the future, the phosphorus deposits on the ocean’s floor may be exploited when an economical way of deep ocean mining is devised.There are no alternatives to the use of phosphate in fertilisers and animal feed. Two phosphate com-pounds are present in the REACH substances of very high concern (SVHC) list: trilead dioxide phospho-nate and tris(2-chloroethyl)phosphate. Sedimentary phosphates, as well as their enrichment in uranium, are also commonly enriched in cadmium. There are ideas considering the introduction of a penalty for the content of cadmium in fertilizers.

MINISTRY OF MINES AND MINING DEVELOPMENT

The Minister of Mines and Mining Development Hon Walter Chidakwa (MP) ,Deputy Minister Hon Fred Moyo (MP) , the Permanent Secretary Prof Francis P Gudyanga , Directors and the entire staff in the Ministry would like to join His Excellency , the President of the Republic of Zimbabwe ,Cde Robert Mugabe and the entire nation in celebrating our 35 years of self rule.

As we commerate our independence anniversary we salute and acknowledge the great sacrifices of our departed and living heroes for successfully dislodging the settler regime thereby creating a peaceful coun-try whose fruits we continue to enjoy to today.

Makorokoto ! Amphlope ! Congratulations !

Our Resources - Our Heritage

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Mineral Journal - Ministry of Mines and Mining Development...Analytical Chemistry, MPhil in Metallurgy, PhD in Minerals Technology and Diploma of Imperial College in Electrochemical